B for Bad
by LatvianGambit
Summary: As in Bad Luck. All Arella wants is money to pay off her brother's hospital bills. Then, she can return home in peace, maybe take a vacation... She's not asking for much. So why is everyone getting in her way? This exam is more trouble than it's worth!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

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><p><em>My name is waterproof glue, the same way yours is untied knot.<em>

XXX

In my family, there were three rules:

1. Mother's word was law.

Ever since the death of my father, my mother had begun to rule with an iron fist, almost as though she believed that we were susceptible to death at any given moment. If Mother thought it was unsafe, it was unsafe. If Mother thought that it was too late to play outside, it was too late to play outside. And most of all, if Mother thought I was being foolish, I was most certainly being foolish.

2. Nen was not allowed in the house.

To be honest, though, my little brother and I modified the rule as 'nen was not allowed in front of Mother.' We'd been surrounded by it our whole lives, especially during the time Father finally decided to take the hunter examination (though we weren't supposed to speak about _that_ in front of Mother, either), so telling us to give up our nen was like telling us to run around naked during a thunderstorm. While surrounded by tall trees.

Besides, my nen was more of a protection type thing, anyway—not like I could cause trouble with it. My brother was the heavy-hitter in the family. He was attack; I was defense. My father always said that the two of us made quite the team. My mother always said that we were too dependent on each other.

I secretly agreed with Mother, because I genuinely had no idea what I would do if I were to find myself in a hostile situation without my brother. I supposed I could simply run away, except that there was no guarantee that I could outrun my opponent. (I'd live, though—no doubt about that. My defensive powers were strong.) The price of my nen powers had always been simple. In exchange for my strong defense, I'd given up every other means of aggression. Meaning I had absolutely no power against an enemy.

No special offensive attacks whatsoever—my strength lay in quick escape with as little damage as possible. My nen ability was to harden air particles on the molecular level by snapping my fingers. With a simple snap, I could solidify the air particles between an enemy and me, creating an impenetrable wall. I could even walk on air, if I wanted—certainly, the hardened air particles would hold my weight. Using the same principle, I could walk on water as well, (which is easier than walking on air, I might add). My nen ability was great for defense, but in exchange I possessed little offensive threat.

It was really no wonder that my father refused to take me to the hunter examination with him, even though he brought my brother, who was younger by almost two years. In his eyes, I was still very much a child—unable to attack, only able to protect.

(Every day for the rest of my life, I will regret not insisting to go with them.)

3. There was no such thing as the hunter examination.

It was, after all, the way that Father had died.

XXX

I needed the money for the hospital bills.

That's what I told myself as I stole out of my house, leaving behind my slumbering mother. Father had died in last year's exam, leaving us with no source of income. Because of this, Mother had to work twice as hard to keep my brother and me from starving. Though I helped as much as I could, it was far from easy, especially because hospital bills were quickly piling up.

Hospital bills from what? Why, the same incident which killed Father. My little brother, Trace, had until very recently been in an injury-induced coma, unable to provide information on his attacker. He slumbered for nearly a year before breaking free from his comatose state.

He'd woken up, terrified, screaming for our father and babbling nonsense about some magician. Although Mother and I were grateful he'd woken, he was far from recovered. He seemed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and the doctors insisted on keeping him. The pricks probably just wanted the extra money—money we didn't possess.

Which was why I'd made a hasty, split-second decision. To take the hunter examination myself, that is. The original reason why my father had gone was to obtain a secondary source of income. Now, I would be following in his exact footsteps.

It wasn't _really_ a thoughtless choice, though. I'd talked it over with Trace at length, and he admitted that if Hisoka the Magician hadn't been in the examination, they surely would have passed. Most of the examinees hadn't even _heard_ of nen, let alone known how to use it. Even still, Trace was terrified that Hisoka would return this year and slaughter everyone.

"Arella," Trace had pleaded, gripping the hem of my shirt feebly, "_please_ don't die."

I'd turned, placing my hands over his. "I swear." Then, to lighten the mood, I'd laughed. "Besides, I'd probably be better off facing Hisoka than you were—I'm more of the running-away type, remember?"

Trace hadn't looked convinced, but had helped me prepare for the trip anyway, pointing out things I would possibly need to keep me alive.

"Don't get too close to anyone who knows nen," he warned me. "They might be examiners in disguise, or just all-around dangerous people. Also, don't believe everything anyone tells you."

I rolled my eyes at Trace's paranoia. It seemed he was determined to keep me alive, even if by isolating me from everyone else.

"The examiners are fair," he continued, "but they aren't absolutely above deception. They might not outright lie, but they may be misleading with their words."

I promised to keep this in mind.

"Don't tell mother," I teased. "She'd string me up by my toes."

The week before the hunter examination, I sneaked out of the house with a rusty, old bicycle that I had gotten for free from a kind neighbor. He promised to keep my mother from worrying, and had even given me a cell phone to call home with. Thankful, I bowed low, and rode the bicycle down the street, hoping for the best.

XXX

"Zaban City," I murmured, streaking down the sidewalk. I maneuvered the bicycle expertly, avoiding crashing into a couple that had just turned to corner. "Never heard of it."

I wondered if it was a place I'd be able to get to with the little money I had. I had enough cash to buy a boat ticket and probably a couple meals, but little more than that. Certainly, even a bus fare would prove too costly.

Pausing as I reached the harbor of the island, I fished out a map. Like I'd suspected, Zaban City was a large metropolitan area on a main continent. It actually wasn't far from the island I lived on, but there was an ocean between the two bodies of land.

Shrugging, I biked towards the dock and found the ticket master, whose nametag read 'Dom.' "Excuse me, sir—" I began, but he interrupted almost immediately.

"Surely you aren't here for that infernal exam?" he asked doubtfully, crossing his arms. "People die in that thing, you know?"

Frowning, I lifted the map. "Actually, I _am_ taking the hunter exam. Is there a boat that goes to Doreh Harbor?" It was the closest I could find to Zaban City.

"We don't get many people taking the hunter examination," Dom replied huffily, "so the boat usually skips through our island. However, we had a couple last year, so I guess popularity has gone up. The boat's coming tomorrow."

I counted out the fare cost from my wallet, thankful that I had enough. "Tomorrow?" I repeated, handing over the money in exchange for a small ticket.

"Tomorrow _morning_," Dom emphasized. "So wake up early and get down here fast."

"That won't be a problem," I assured him, wheeling my bike over to a small tree. Plopping down to the floor, I leaned against the hard wood, breathing deeply.

I heard the ticket master grumble. "Suit yourself. Sleep all night like that and see how you feel in the morning."

So I did.

XXX

Actually, I felt perfectly fine in the morning, up until the point I got on the boat. There were already many others on the vessel, so I assumed they had come from different islands scattered around the ocean. All of them were male.

"What's a _girl_ doing on this ship?" one of the passengers sneered, instantaneously extinguishing my good mood.

"Same thing you are, I suppose," I retorted coolly, calmly wheeling my bicycle past him and taking a seat on the floor of the boat. We began to pull out of the harbor.

Another man scoffed, shaking his head. "Kids these days," he said contemptuously. "You and that other one both. So ready to throw away your lives."

I ignored him, though his words piqued my curiosity. _What other one?_ I wondered, glancing around. Carefully, I memorized as many faces as I could. As I turned my head, I spotted a boy even younger than me sitting at the bowsprit of the ship, fishing.

He was utterly concentrated, and hadn't even glanced my way when I'd first gotten on the boat.

Smiling to myself, I settled to the floor and resigned myself to a long wait.

_So there are even boys like this in the world…_, I thought before I slumbered.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

This chapter is dedicated to flower scent, my first reviewer! (:

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><p><em>Friends are born, not made.<em>

XXX

When I next awoke, the ship was in complete chaos. A great storm lurked in the sky, and the examinees were all scrambling to stay alive. Clashing lightning and roaring thunder burst in the sky angrily, joining the howling wind in our torment.

I stood, alarmed, and was thrown against the side of the boat as it lurched dangerously to the left. The men beside me were not so lucky, and all went tumbling across the deck. Though I managed to grab one before he cracked his head against the floor, the others went stumbling into barrels and tables.

"Get everyone into the passenger cabin!" the captain roared ferociously, wrestling with the wheel.

I hefted one arm of the man I'd caught over my shoulder, helping him stand. "You heard him," I gasped, shouting to make myself heard over the waves. "In the cabin you go." We staggered over the door of lower floors, and I flung him in carelessly. He moaned in protest as he plummeted down the stairs. I winced in sympathy.

Struggling past the crowd of passengers who'd begun to crowd around the door, I caught my bike as it skidded across the wooden floor. Frantically, I looked around to see if there was a place I could safely tie it to.

"Here!" someone shouted, and I swiveled, automatically catching the rope that was hurled at my face. The boy I'd seen fishing earlier had tossed it to me, and was gesturing for me to approach the railing. Together, we tethered the bike down, though there were moments I feared we would be launched overboard.

As we teetered across the tilting deck to the cabin, I almost tripped over a fallen barrel that had been slung in my path, and he grabbed my hand. "Careful!" he yelled over the clamor, and we safely made it down the stairs to the passenger cabins.

Once we left the chaos behind us, I smiled gratefully. "Thanks a million," I breathed, thankful that we'd made it through the storm alive.

"No problem!" the boy chirped enthusiastically, seeming completely unaffected by the storm. He let go of my hand and turned away. "I'm gonna go help more people out!"

I blinked, amazed at his compassion. "Ah, could I also come?" I asked tentatively, and he beamed.

"Sure!" he exclaimed, dragging me away.

Together, we scampered from person to person, offering water and medicine to the seasick individuals. We continued until the storm abated entirely.

"Thanks for the help!" the boy said, grinning widely.

Confused, I waved my hands. "No, no—it was the least I could do after you helped me out."

"I'm Gon," he declared, thrusting out one hand.

I grasped it, and he immediately began to shake forcefully. "N-nice to meet you, Gon," I said, a little perturbed at his zeal. "My name is Arella. Ah, I'm going to go check on my bike now."

"Okay, I'll come, too!" Gon said happily, clambering up the stairs to the main deck.

When we reached the outside, however, he frowned. I paused when he didn't follow me to my bicycle, and turned in puzzlement as he slowly made his way to the head of the ship. Once I established that my bicycle was in as poor condition as I'd originally brought it in, I trotted over to Gon, opening my mouth.

"Boy, what's the matter?" the captain asked before I could. "You finally getting seasick?"

I jumped, not realizing he'd been behind me—which was a little suspicious in my opinion. There weren't many people who could sneak up on me.

"There's an even bigger storm headed this way," Gon stated, looking over the horizon.

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly. "How do you know?"

"The wind is salty," Gon explained. "The seagulls are warning each other as well."

The captain seemed as nonplussed as I was. "Boy!" he said in a shocked tone. "You can understand the language of birds?"

"Not all of it," Gon admitted, "but enough."

Tilting my head, I attempted to make sense of the birds' cawing and found I couldn't. Though my first inclination was to brand Gon as a liar, I couldn't find it in me to doubt the young boy. For some inexplicable reason, I trusted him. To say the least, I was impressed.

As the captain and Gon continued to converse, I made my way back down to the passenger cabin. It seemed there was little reason to stay aboard. Right when my foot came off the bottom step, a loudspeaker crackled to life.

"We are headed towards a storm that's about twice the size of the last one," the captain's voice said gruffly. Immediately, all the passengers began to complain loudly. "If you don't want to risk your lives, get on the emergency boats we've provided and take cover on the nearest island until the storm passes."

Surprisingly to me, there were many people who got off immediately. Too many had come without the resolve to carry through. I watched as person after person quickly gathered his belongings and jumped in a lifeboat. The room emptied before my very eyes.

In the end, there were four people left—me, Gon, and two others I'd never really paid attention to. They both seemed to be around my age.

The taller of the two strangers was wearing a smart suit, looking rather imposing with his dark sunglasses. The other was wearing a blue tabard-like piece of clothing which I secretly thought looked kind of cool. I squinted down at my own clothing—a simple shirt and trousers—and sulked. Even Gon was wearing a specially-tailored outfit of bright green.

The captain of the boat entered the room, folding his arms.

"So that just leaves the four of you," he said. "Give me your names first."

The tall man in the black suit went first. "Call me Leorio," he said.

"My name is Kurapica," the blond boy said next.

"I'm Gon!" Gon exclaimed.

"And I'm Arella," I finished.

The captain stroked his beard thoughtfully, and the four of us waited tensely. "Why do you wanna become hunters?" he asked finally.

My eyes widened in comprehension. This ship ride must've been part of the hunter examination, which explained why the captain had been able to sneak up on me. It made sense that he would also be a nen user.

It seemed, however, that I was the only one to realize. "Why're you asking?" the man named Leorio groused. "Are you the interviewer or something?"

"Just answer," the captain said stonily.

"I want to know what kind of job my father did!" Gon said without preamble, causing Leorio to smack his face.

"Hey, kid, don't just answer like that," he complained. "Don't you have any sense of teamwork?"

Gon furrowed his brows. "Why does it matter? He's just asking us the reason."

I agreed with Gon. "I want to be a hunter so that I can pay for my brother's hospital bills," I announced.

Glancing at Leorio, I was bemused to see that his expression had changed from irritated to a cross between unhappy and nostalgic. He sighed. "Whatever, I can't do it," he grumbled. "I'd rather even fight than do something I don't want to do."

"I agree with Leorio," Kurapica said, causing Leorio to twitch at having the honorific in his name left out.

"How old are you to be saying my name like that?" he asked irritably.

Kurapica ignored him. "It's easy to pretend to tell the truth to avoid question you don't want to answer," he continued. "However, I also think lying is one of the most shameful acts possible. But for me to disclose my true reasons to someone I just met… It's simply too personal. Therefore, I cannot answer that question here."

"Oh, is that so?" the captain asked slyly. "Then you two must get off this ship immediately."

The boys froze. "Why's that?" Leorio asked.

"Don't you get it?" the captain sighed. "The hunter qualification exam has already begun!"

I inwardly nodded, my suspicions confirmed.

"As you know, there are just too many people who want to become hunters," the captain explained. "The examiners don't have enough time or the manpower to evaluate you all. For that reason, people like me are hired to cut down the numbers. The ones who left in the lifeboats have already been disqualified. Even if they find their way to the examination site by an alternative route, they'll be rejected. Basically, it's up to me whether or not you'll be allowed to take the actual exam. So just answer the question."

There was a long silence at the end of the captain's speech. Finally, Kurapica opened his mouth. "I'm…a survivor of the Kuruta tribe," he said, startling the captain. "There's a group of bandits who massacred my tribe four years ago… I want to become a hunter to capture the Phantom Brigade."

"A blacklist hunter applicant, eh?" the captain murmured. "The ones of the Phantom Brigade are A-class bounties. Even a veteran hunter would have difficulty. You'll most likely just end up getting killed."

"I do not fear death," Kurapica said quietly. "I only worry that my rage will someday disappear."

Leorio sighed. "So you want revenge. That's something you can do without becoming a hunter."

"That's quite an ignorant statement, Leorio," Kurapica replied, once again leaving out the honorific. "There are places you can't enter, and information you can't obtain unless you're a hunter. Don't you even know that?"

I frowned, realizing that both were being quite rude to each other. I assumed it was the irritation from being stuck on a cramped boat for so long, but still…

"Leorio, how about you?" the captain asked.

Leorio seemed to temporarily shrug off his irritation. "Me?" he asked. "I don't want to suck up to you or anything so I'll just be honest. Money!" he exclaimed. "If I have money, I'll be able to get my hands on everything! A huge mansion! Luxurious cars! The best wine!"

"You can't buy character with money, Leorio," Kurapica stated bluntly.

I watched in dread as a livid expression crossed Leorio's face. "That's three strikes," he growled. "Let's take this outside, Kurapica. I will end the filthy bloodline of the Kuruta tribe."

"Take that back, Leorio," Kurapica hissed murderously.

"You mean 'Leorio-san,'" Leorio snapped. "Come."

"Wherever you'd like," Kurapica replied, and both boys set off to the main deck.

The captain hurried after them, flustered. "Do you expect to pass the hunter exam by ignoring me, you punks? Hey! I'm not done talking yet!"

"Let them be, sir," Gon suggested, and I was flabbergasted.

"Why?" I demanded. "They're going to kill each other."

"To know someone is to know what angers him," Gon stated. "My Aunt Mito taught that saying to me. To me, the reasons why those two are angry are very important, so I think it's better to just let them be."

The captain and I mulled this over until a crewmember burst through the door. "Captain!" he gasped. "The storm is approaching faster than we anticipated!"

We all rushed to the deck, where the crewmembers were desperately trying to raise the sails before we capsized. In the middle of the ship, Kurapica and Leorio were rushing at each other with their weapons raised.

Suddenly, part of the ship's mast snapped in half, throwing one of the crewmembers overboard.

"Katso!" someone screamed.

"Shit!" Leorio snapped, immediately lunging for the falling man, fight with Kurapica forgotten. Gon was hot at his heels.

Breaking out of my shocked reverie, I raised an arm and prepared to snap my fingers, intent on forming a wall of air in front of the falling man. Halfway through the motions, I changed my mind, realizing that if I formed a hard wall, the man would surely bash his head against it and sustain severe damage.

I leapt after him with Leorio and Kurapica, though none of us managed to reach him on time. Gon, however, leapt off the ship, latching himself to the man's legs. Though I was appalled beyond belief at his reckless behavior, I managed to react quickly, grabbing Gon's legs along with Leorio and Kurapica.

Once we were brought to safety, Kurapica and Leorio harangued Gon immediately.

"How could you be so reckless?" Kurapica berated him. "The storm is so vicious that even a mermaid would have trouble surviving in these conditions!"

"If we hadn't grabbed your legs, you would've been swallowed up by the sea, you stupid idiot!" Leorio added.

I sat in stony silence, until Leorio nudged me. "Arella, say something to this moron!"

I took a deep breath. "Your Aunt Mito," I said slowly, "would have cried if you'd died here. I hope you understand that. If we hadn't caught you, you would've drowned."

Though he looked a little repentant at his actions, Gon began to speak. "But you guys _did_ catch me," he said, and I smacked my forehead, realizing he hadn't understood anything at all.

Kurapica, Leorio, and I glanced at one another for a moment, bonding over Gon's insane logic, or lack thereof. Honestly, he was such a child.

"I apologize for being rude," Kurapica said, smiling softly. "I'm sorry, Leorio-san."

Leorio waved off the apology, scratching his chin sheepishly. "Man, you're embarrassing me," he said. "Just Leorio is fine, Kurapica. I also take back everything I said before."

I groaned in frustration. "Men!" I exclaimed. "Dumb, stubborn animals."

Immediately, protests began to arise, most notably from Leorio.

We were interrupted by guffaws from the captain, who was leaning against the mast. "You youngsters are really something," he chuckled. "I'm feelin' mighty good today! I'll make sure you guys reach the closest harbor to the examination site! I give you my word."

We blinked in surprise, conflict forgotten. "What about your exam?" I asked, confused.

"Ah, I'm so happy I forgot all about it!" he thundered. "Gon, why don't we continue with the steering lesson?"

Gon leapt to his feet. "Okay!" he shouted gleefully, leaving the rest of us behind.

We reached Doreh Harbor a couple hours after that, and saw that it was swamped with people.

"Wow, there are tons of people here," Leorio whistled appreciatively.

Kurapica nodded. "The majority of the crowd is probably here for the same reason as us."

As we left the boat, the captain stopped us. "One last piece of advice," he said in a grave tone. "Head for the mountains, towards that large tree." He pointed over our heads and we stared at the prominent landmark.

"Alright!" Gon said. "Thanks!"

As we pushed through the crowd, we stopped in front of a large map to see where Zaban was located.

"That's weird," Leorio said. "The district of Zaban is a big city. There's no reason to head towards a mountain in the opposite direction. There's even a bus that goes directly to Zaban."

"But the captain advised us to head for the mountain for a reason," I pointed out from atop my bicycle. I leaned on the handle bars. "I don't think the captain was mistaken. If he really wanted to fail us, he could've just thrown us off the boat like he did with everyone else."

"Maybe the captain was mistaken?" Kurapica suggested cautiously.

Gon shrugged. "I'm still going to go. Like Arella said, there must've been a reason."

"Gon, you should learn to be more suspicious of others," Leorio admonished. "I recommend you take the bus."

I shook my head. "Look, there must be a thousand people over here. Only a handful passes the hunter exams. If all these people made it to the exam center, wouldn't it be too simple? The bus must be a trap," I argued.

After thinking it over, Leorio and Kurapica finally agreed.

It felt nice to be trusted.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: If anyone can guess who said the quote in the first sentence (*points down*), I'll give out imaginary cookies. (:

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><p><em>Do you think I'm in a bed of roses?<em>

XXX

We made our way to the tall mountain, and came upon what seemed to be a deserted village. Not only were the buildings dilapidated and dingy, the roads were unpaved and grimy. Scraps of cloth tumbled about on the floor in the wind. It was hard to believe anyone could live in such a ghost town.

"This place is a bit creepy," Leorio muttered. "Not a single person in sight."

"But there are a lot of people here, right?" Gon commented.

"Yes," Kurapica agreed. "We should stay alert."

I was amazed. I'd known that there were signs of life due to my nen, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to tell without it.

"How do you know that?" Leorio questioned, looking from side to side as though a person might randomly appear if he squinted hard enough.

"You can hear people breathing from inside the buildings, right?" Kurapica asked.

"Yeah, and the rustling of clothes," Gon added. "I guess they're hiding."

Leorio and I glanced at each other and shrugged. "Hmph, sure," Leorio grunted. "I'm just a normal human so I have no idea."

Suddenly, people in masks began to pour out of the alleys. At the head of the group was an old lady with a staff.

"Doki doki," she whispered, and I strained to hear more. "DOKI DOKI TWO CHOICE QUIZ!" she bellowed, and I staggered back a step. "You children are headed towards the tree at the tip of the mountain, right?" she asked, but didn't wait for us to answer. "It's not possible to reach that point unless you pass through this town. The other paths up the mountain are labyrinths, and on top of that, they are the territories of ferocious, demonic beasts."

Demonic beasts? I really didn't feel like being eaten. I exchanged a nervous glance with the rest of the group, but the old woman continued to speak.

"I will present to you a single question," she said. "You only have five seconds to answer. If you are wrong, you will be immediately disqualified and you will be unable to take the hunter exam this year."

"Hmm, so this is another ordeal we must go through to get to the actual examination," Kurapica guessed, crossing his arms.

I groaned. "How many rounds of preliminaries are we going to have to go through?"

"Answer either with a 'one' or a 'two.' Any other answer will be considered incorrect," the woman explained.

At this, Leorio seemed to protest. "Hey, wait a minute! All three of us will be asked just one question?" he asked. "Then, if Kurapica is wrong, that means I'll be disqualified too?"

Kurapica glared. "That's impossible," he snapped. "It's more likely to be the other way around."

"But that also means only one of us has to get the answer correct for us to pass," Gon insisted, attempting to dispel the conflict.

"Yes, but we don't know what kind of quiz it'll be," I murmured. "For all we know, it could be some complex question about the genus and species name of some obscure creature. It could be about some historical conflict that occurred over a century ago. Wouldn't it be safer if we find another way to the exam site?"

Just then, another person stepped out behind us. "Hey, you gonna hurry up or what?" he asked obnoxiously. "If you aren't feeling too confident, why don't you let me go first?"

"So, what's the deal?" the old woman asked.

"I'll go first," the newcomer said, smiling sinisterly. I had a vague feeling he was the type who would go ahead of us and set a bunch of traps. Still, this wasn't really worrisome.

"Here's the question," the woman began. "Your mother and your girlfriend have been kidnapped by evil villains, and you're only able to rescue one of them. One, your mother. Two, your girlfriend. Who would you rescue?"

Incredulous, I gaped at the woman. _What an impossible question!_ I thought to myself. _She can't be serious—there's no proper answer to this. Is this a matter of luck, then? Does she want us to answer as she would?_

While I was busy debating, the stranger had already answered. "One!" he exclaimed confidently.

"And the reason for your answer?" the lady asked.

He smirked. "Obviously, I only have one mother in the whole world," he announced, "but I can always find another girlfriend." I seethed at his reasoning. What did he consider women to be, refundable toys? Obviously, he wouldn't be able to pass with a laughable response like that.

The lady turned her back to us and had a whispered conference with the masked people behind her. "You may go," she said finally, and I gasped in outrage.

"That's bullshit!" Leorio burst out before I had the chance to. "What kind of messed up quiz is this, you old hag? This kind of question can't possibly have a correct answer! The answer differs according to the person you ask. This is so full of shit—I can't accept this! I'm going to take a different route."

"Hmph, you're already too late," the lady claimed calmly. "If you choose not to take the quiz, you'll be disqualified immediately. You'll lose the right to become a hunter."

I watched worriedly as Leorio fumed. _There must be something to the quiz that we're missing!_ I thought frantically. _Trace told me that the hunter examiners are always fair, even if they are eccentric_.

Just as I was about to voice these thoughts, Kurapica's eyes widened in realization. "Leorio!" he called, and I was relieved that he'd been able to figure the quiz out, because I certainly hadn't. Then, I felt irritated at myself for being comforted—I couldn't rely on other people to pass! What would I have done if I were alone?

"What?" Leorio snarled. "You can't be suggesting that we take this dumb quiz!"

"Wait!" the old woman called before Kurapica could explain what he had discovered. "I will not allow you to speak another word," she decided. "I will not allow any unnecessary speech from now on. Now, answer! One, take the quiz. Two, do not take the quiz."

"One!" Kurapica blurted before Leorio could disagree.

"Now, here's the question," the woman stated. "Your son and daughter have been kidnapped together, but you can only rescue one of them. One, your daughter. Two, your son. Who would you rescue?"

As she began to count down the seconds, I glanced at Kurapica nervously. I'd thought he would know the answer, but he wasn't saying anything, instead looking rather stressed. Maybe he hadn't known the answer after all! Gon, though, seemed to be perfectly calm. I vacillated between the two options desperately, trying to logically deduce the correct response, then paused as Leorio growled beside me. Leorio seemed to be the most agitated of us all. He trudged away from us, grabbing a large plank and swinging it around menacingly.

"Time's up!" the lady announced.

Immediately, Leorio dashed forward, his stick raised. Kurapica lunged, placing himself between Leorio and the old woman and blocking the strike.

"Why are you stopping me?" Leorio roared.

"Calm down, Leorio!" Kurapica shouted back.

"No, I'm not going to calm down!" Leorio retorted vehemently. "I'm going to take this old hag's head to the exam site and give the judges a piece of my mind! A hunter? You can all go shove it. The world is better off without such a stupid system!"

"Are you going to give up your chance?" Kurapica asked, effectively stopping Leorio in his tracks.

"Ah," I said, understanding flooding me. "So we answered correctly after all."

"Yes," Kurapica said. "Silence! That's the correct answer! Leorio, you said it yourself; there can't possibly be a correct answer. You were right—there was no correct answer to the quiz, but the rule stated we could only answer with a one or two. So you can't say anything at all. There is only silence."

Leorio didn't seem to accept this. "But—that guy just now…"

"They didn't say he was correct," Kurapica explained. "They only said he could 'go.' Just a moment ago, I heard him scream. He was probably attacked by a demon beast. In other words, this is not the correct path."

I gaped along with Leorio. Kurapica had heard a scream? When? Gon had also probably heard, which explained why he'd seemed so calm. I hadn't heard a thing. I pouted. _This is what I get for relying too heavily on nen_, I mentally sighed. I decided that I would have to do a lot of basic training as soon as I found the time. I couldn't afford to be weaker than ordinary citizens. My nen ability was supposed to be a plus, not a neutral point to bring me up to the levels of others. _Then again_, I thought, _Kurapica and Gon aren't exactly normal citizens, are they?_

"That's right," the old woman agreed. "The true path is this way." She pointed to a wall, and two of the masked figures behind her pried it open, revealing a dark path. "It's a straight path, so you'll be able to reach the top in about two hours."

Leorio sagged, tossing aside his stick. "Old lady, I'm sorry," he said humbly.

"No, there's nothing for you to be sorry about," the woman laughed, forgiving him easily. "I do this job to meet people like you. Work hard. I wish for you to become a good hunter."

"Thanks," Leorio mumbled, and we set off into the darkness.

After a few minutes of walking, (or in my case, biking) Gon let out a deep breath. "Whew," he sighed. "I can't do it! I can't come up with an answer!" he declared.

We all began to laugh. "You were thinking this whole time?" Leorio asked cheerfully. "It's over now."

"Huh? Why?" Gon asked, not understanding.

"What do you mean?" Leorio asked exasperatedly. "The quiz is already done with."

"I know that," Gon replied. "But if I ever really come across a situation in which I have to choose between two people who are precious to me to rescue, what am I going to do?"

The three of us froze, not anticipating Gon's surprisingly deep concerns.

"Neither is the correct answer," Gon continued, "but there might come a day when we must make a decision."

Silence reigned for a long while as we pondered this.

Suddenly, the quiet was broken by a sharp trilling noise, and music began to fill the air.

"What's that?" Kurapica asked in surprise, pausing in the darkness.

"Sounds like a phone," Leorio guessed, "but it isn't mine."

"What phone?" Gon asked incredulously. "There's a phone in here?"

"Oh," I exclaimed, snapping my fingers. "I completely forgot—it's mine." I fumbled through my pockets to find the device. "My neighbor gave it to me before I left home—oh, how do you work this thing…?"

Leorio deftly snatched it out of my fingers, pressing a button in the dark and returning it to me. "Thanks, I said gratefully, and pressed the phone to my ear.

"HOW COULD YOU?" a voice screeched on the other end. The scream echoed through the tunnel, and I could practically _feel_ all three of my male companions flinch. Heat crept into my cheeks.

"Mother," I whispered. "Please don't—"

"OH, THAT'S RICH. DON'T _WHAT_, ARELLA? DON'T BE CONCERNED? DON'T BE UPSET? OH YES, MY DAUGHTER GOES GALLIVANTING OFF TO WHO KNOWS WHERE AND I SHOULD JUST _UNDERSTAND_?" she shrieked. "YOU'RE COMING HOME RIGHT NOW AND—"

Her voice was unceremoniously cut off and loud scuffling noises sounded on the other end. I peered at my phone warily, slowly putting it back to my ear. "Hello?" I asked meekly.

"Sorry about that," a new voice said, and I immediately recognized my neighbor's tone. "Your mother—well, she's just very scary sometimes and I couldn't lie—"

"Damn straight you couldn't!" I heard faintly in the background.

"…Yes, well, do have fun. I'll calm down your mo—Ihavetogonowbye!" Abruptly, the phone clicked off, and the four of us were left in the darkness.

"So…" Leorio began, but I cut him off.

"Let's just…let's just go," I sighed, shoving the phone back in my pocket.

Although the group began to move again, I knew I hadn't staved off the boys' curiosity. I also knew they were too kind to pry. I exhaled slowly. "Last year, my father participated in the hunter examination," I revealed, and though I felt them twitch at the sudden noise, all three boys listened attentively. "My family wasn't doing too well financially, so he thought he could earn some more money as a hunter. He and my brother, Trace, left home to become a hunter."

There was a brief silence as I struggled to find the best wording.

"He died," I said abruptly. "My father died during the examination, and my brother was put into a coma. My mother forbade us from taking the hunter exams ever again. But my mother is working herself to death, now that Father is gone. We have to pay off my brother's hospital bills. There's no other choice. Even if Mother is upset at me, I won't return until I'm a hunter."

Kurapica was the first to break the oppressive silence. "I'm sorry that happened to you," he said evenly, and I wasn't sure if I was thankful for the darkness or not. I couldn't see if there was any pity in his face.

"That's why," Gon stated, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Why what?" I asked.

"When I jumped after the man who almost fell overboard," Gon elaborated, "and everyone was mad at me—you just told me that Aunt Mito would be sad if I died. So that's why."

"Yeah, think about your poor aunt when you're off doing dumb, reckless things, would you?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

The boys chuckled nervously.

"Well, while we're still walking, let's get to know each other better," I suggested, attempting to change the subject. "How old is everyone?"

"I'm almost twelve!" Gon said, jumping at the chance to solidify our friendship.

I stumbled, almost falling off my bicycle. "A-almost _twelve_?" I choked. That meant Gon was actually eleven! "You—you're way younger than I ever thought _anyone_ would be. And your Aunt Mito just let you come to the dangerous hunter exam?"

"Well, she didn't want me to," Gon admitted.

"I'll bet she didn't," Leorio muttered. "Eleven! What a kid!"

"But we made a deal!" Gon continued, undaunted. "She said if I could catch the monster fish in the lake, she'd give me permission! So I did."

"I'm sure she wasn't actually expecting you to be able to catch it," Kurapica said, aghast.

"But I caught it!" Gon protested.

"When _I_ was eleven…," I said, trailing off. The boys waited expectantly. "Actually, never mind. So how old are you, Kurapica?"

The boys smacked themselves at the obvious ambiguity. "I'm seventeen," Kurapica stated.

"Ah, I'm almost seventeen," I said, surprised. "You're younger than I thought. How about you, Leorio?"

"I recently turned nineteen," he said, "and don't you dare tell me you thought I was in my twenties!"

I chuckled nervously and heard Gon do the same; that was exactly what I'd been about to say. "Ah, there's light!" I said instead, pointing towards the end of the tunnel. We'd finally made it out of the cave!

We rushed forward, and were disappointed to find we were surrounded by forest. The large tree was still very far away in the distance.

"Ah, what the heck!" Leorio cried in dismay. "Hasn't it already been two hours?"

"It's barely been half an hour," Kurapica corrected. "More importantly, what's with that sign?"

We turned to where he was pointing. There was, indeed, a sign which read 'beware of demon beasts.'

"I thought this was the _right_ path!" I moaned. "The one _without_ the beasts! How unfair!"

The boys shook their heads in exasperation, and we continued walking, all the way up until it became dark.

"Two hours on foot?" Leorio complained. "It's gotten completely dark! Two hours passed two hours ago, dammit!"

I was inclined to agree. "I'm hungry," I whined. "And thirsty."

"Yeah, and I have to go to the bathroom," Leorio added without thinking.

An awkward silence settled around the group. "Leorio," I objected. "There are just some things you don't say in front of females."

"Or anyone else," Kurapica added hastily.

Gon continued, oblivious. "Hey, there's another monster sign!" he exclaimed, pointing. This made the fourth one we'd seen so far.

"Why are there so many signs?" I wondered aloud, just as Kurapica stopped in shock, almost causing me to bike into him.

"I see it!" he declared, pointing straight forward.

There, underneath the tallest tree I'd ever seen in my life, was a small, wooden house.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

* * *

><p><em>Either you run the day or the day runs you.<em>

XXX

"_Finally_," Leorio grumbled, previous embarrassment forgotten.

Kurapica ignored him. "It's too quiet," he said instead. "Are we the only applicants here?"

"Well, these navigators can't possibly take _everyone_ to the exam center," I reasoned judiciously. "I'm sure there are other navigators. Some people might not even need navigators to make it to the exam center. Besides, there _are_ people inside. Three, I think."

Walking up the steps, Leorio rapped smartly on the door.

There was an ominous silence.

"…You're sure there are people inside?" Kurapica asked, and I nodded, frowning. I could clearly feel the three presences inside. All were stationary, making no move to open the door. Were they sleeping?

"Eh, whatever," Leorio said, shrugging. He turned the knob, ignoring Kurapica's scandalized expression. "Coming in!" he announced, pushing the door open.

The four of us gasped at what we found inside.

A beast was holding a woman captive, as a bleeding man attempted to drag himself forward.

"A demon beast!" we cried. Before any of us could counterattack, however, the monster sprinted out of the house with the woman still in its grasp. I abandoned my bike, immediately snapping my fingers.

Although the nen wall appeared instantaneously, the beast promptly twisted out of the way and sped off. _How—!_ I thought, alarmed beyond belief. _How did it see my nen? Does the creature know how to use nen…or was it instinctive?_

Still, I pressed these thoughts aside and tailed Gon and Kurapica out of the house as they began to pursue the creature.

"My wife…," the injured man moaned. "Save her…!"

"Leorio, look after the injured man!" Kurapica shouted.

"Leave it to me!" Leorio replied.

"It escaped into the woods," I said worriedly, scanning the trees with my nen. "I can't see it."

"That way!" Gon shouted, and I followed him on reflex, startled he had found the beast before me.

"Careful!" I shouted. "It might have friends!"

Not heeding my warning at all, Gon barreled towards the creature, shouting angrily. "Let her go!" he yelled.

The creature sneered. "Take her back if you can!" It sped up, attempting to lose us in the darkness.

"Wow! It can talk!" Gon exclaimed, looking supremely surprised.

"That's the definition of a demon beast!" Kurapica yelled back. "They're beasts capable of human speech. This one is a transforming demon beast called kiriko. It can take the form of a human so stay alert!"

_Wow, Kurapica's pretty knowledgeable_, I thought to myself, concentrating my nen once more. Snapping my fingers, I constructed walls in place around the kiriko. Cackling, the beast dodged, hopping in a zigzag motion. I growled, almost missing the sharp glance Kurapica sent my way.

"Hey you!" Gon shouted, distracting all of us. "Stupid Kirikoooo!"

The beast glanced back, irritated, and I took the opportunity to place a wall right behind it. I snapped my fingers, and this time I saw for sure Kurapica's pointed stare. The beast collided with the air, right as Gon smashed his fishing rod into its head. Disconcerted, the kiriko dropped the woman.

"Kurapica!" I shouted, but he was already in motion, swiftly looping one arm around the waist of the woman, the other gripping the branch of a tree.

The kiriko glared, holding one hand to its head, the other to its back. "You brats," he hissed then sped off into the forest. "I won't forget this!" it called over its shoulder.

"Wait!" Gon shouted, and darted after the beast.

I rolled my eyes. Though we had already retrieved the woman, Gon insisted on chasing the animal. "Should I go after him?" I asked Kurapica.

"He'll be fine," Kurapica said dismissively, so I shrugged, plopping down beside him.

"Are you injured?" I asked the woman gently.

She shook her head slowly. "I'm…okay. What about my husband? What happened to him?"

"He's being taken care of by my friend, so don't worry," Kurapica assured her.

The lady didn't seem convinced. "Please…take me…to where my husband is."

I frowned. It didn't seem she'd hit her head anywhere, so why on Earth was she speaking so slowly? It was almost as though she were trying to waste time. Something didn't settle right in my stomach. I was snapped out of my worrying by someone entering the field of my nen.

Kurapica was glancing at the woman's arm. "This tattoo—"

"We've got company," I warned, right as the bushes beside us quivered. Leaves shook to the floor as someone moved towards us while making a great deal of sound.

"Kurapica, are you alright?" Leorio's voice emerged from the forest, as he snapped twigs and crunched leaves underfoot.

Kurapica and I exchanged a quick glance. "Yeah, Gon went after the demon beast," he replied.

"How's the man doing?" I asked pointedly.

"There's nothing to worry about," Leorio said happily. "His injuries weren't as bad as they looked. He took some painkillers and is sleeping now."

Something about Leorio's expression didn't suit with me. "Leorio," I started, and he turned towards me. "What's my name?" I asked sharply.

"What's this all of a sudden?" Leorio asked, annoyed. "Quit fooling around. We have more important things to be worrying about."

"Is that so?" Kurapica asked, and slammed his weapon into the fake's face.

The impact sent 'Leorio' careening backwards, and the kiriko immediately began to shift back into its beastly form. "…How did you know I was a fake?" it asked.

"You'd have to ask _Arella_, because I didn't particularly think you were a fake," Kurapica, emphasizing my name, as it was clear the kiriko hadn't known the answer to my question. "I'd asked Leorio to 'look after the injured,' to which he'd replied 'leave it to me.' But he left the injured and came here, so I struck him. It's as simple as that."

Both Kurapica and the kiriko turned to me for my explanation. "I felt you coming towards us," I explained, shrugging, "at a very fast speed. Then, you abruptly slowed down and started making a lot of noise. I was only a little suspicious at first, but the fact that you didn't know my name solidified my doubts."

I cursed in surprise as the beast sneered and vanished. "Damn, it's probably going after Gon! I'm following! Take care of the lady!" I swept after the beast.

"Hahaha, my wife's probably already taken care of the brat!" the kuriko cackled, dodging all my attempts at capturing it with nen.

Infuriated, I snarled, swiping at the beast with another snap of my fingers. "No way Gon would lose to some dumb animal!" I almost fell out of the tree I was in when the beast suddenly turn and lunged at me. I snapped my fingers to throw up a shield—and the kiriko ran right past me. I spun and dove after it, irritated at being tricked.

"Oh, your friend's in trouble now!" it shouted gleefully, pointing to a clearing that we were nearing.

Clearly, I saw Gon standing motionlessly as a different kiriko shot its claws forward.

I opened my mouth to scream a warning. "G—"

A furred hand clamped over my mouth, and I shuddered at the touch, struggling. I positioned my fingers to snap.

"Cut it out," the kiriko holding me threatened, pressing its claws against my throat. I paid no heed to its warning until the claws slightly pierced my skin, creating a thin line of blood.

I froze, though my eyes were still on Gon. Thankfully, it seemed that his life wasn't in any immediate danger, especially as the kiriko with him had halted its attack midway and now seemed to be conversing with him.

In fact…the kiriko seemed to be laughing. "Honey, come out!" it called loudly. "We've got an interesting one here!"

The beast holding me backed off immediately, and my fingers flew to my neck instinctively. Warily, I followed the kiriko to the clearing, confused at the sudden lack of hostility. Actually, now that I truly thought about it, neither of the two beasts had really made a direct attempt at an attack until the very end, almost as though they were simply gauging our skills.

I stood by Gon protectively as the two beasts murmured. Soon, Kurapica and the woman appeared, followed by the injured man (who seemed quite healthy actually) and Leorio. Suddenly, the pieces clicked together.

"Hmm," one of the kirikos hummed. "How many years has it been since we've met a human who could tell us apart?"

"Yes, this is exciting," the other agreed.

I exchanged a glance with Kurapica and Leorio, both who seemed to be as lost as I was. "Can either of you tell them apart?" Leorio whispered, and both Kurapica and I shook our heads.

"Not at all," Kurapica whispered back.

"The one that Kurapica and I hit is the husband," Gon unhelpfully said, leaving us as confused as we always had been.

"Well…I'm sure you guys know by now," the 'husband' said.

"But we're the navigators," the 'wife' finished.

"We're the kids," the two apparently-human man and woman added.

The lady pointed towards her arm tattoos. "This tattoo belongs to the women of the ancient Sumi Tribe. It symbolizes the oath to remain celibate for the rest of my life as the wife of God. Only one with extensive knowledge of ancient history would have recognized it. Using his impressive knowledge to catch even the subtlest hint, Kurapica managed to determine we were not actually married."

I nodded. Yes, that sounded like Kurapica alright.

The man went next. "Leorio could not figure out my identity to the end."

I nodded again. Yes, that also sounded like Leorio alright.

"However, the first-aid he administered was faster and more accurate than even a doctor," the man continued, and I blinked, impressed. "And beyond everything else, he continued to console me and encourage me when I was worrying about the safety of my 'wife.'"

Leorio scratched his chin, looking embarrassed at the praise.

"Gon possessed superhuman athleticism and observational skills," the female kiriko added.

Gon grinned sheepishly, remembering that he had hit her husband with his full strength.

"Arella," the male kiriko began, "possessed prominent intuition and was able to quickly determine when I was impersonating Leorio. Also, she made full use of that special technique of hers to effectively track me down and wear me out."

At this, Kurapica started, as though he had just remembered, though Gon and Leorio seemed clueless. He opened his mouth to ask, but shut it without saying anything, as though realizing that now was not the time for an interrogation.

"She possessed great dexterity and flexibility," the humanoid beast praised, and I blushed, clearly remembering calling his wife a dumb animal not five minutes earlier.

"Sorry for calling you names. And hitting you," I said sheepishly.

"I apologize as well for drawing blood," he said solemnly, and immediately the three boys snapped their heads in my direction.

"Ah! You're really bleeding!" Gon exclaimed, looking horrified that he hadn't noticed earlier. "Mr. Kiriko, why did you do that?"

I raised a brow, waving a hand. "No, no—it was only a light scratch. Barely a paper cut. It shouldn't even be bleeding."

"Hm, that's what I'd believed when I inflicted the damage," the male kiriko admitted, frowning, "but you really are bleeding quite a bit."

I slapped a hand to my neck, and my eyes widened when it came away slicked in blood.

"Are you a bleeder?" Leorio asked incredulously, moving towards me with an outstretched hand.

I stared, fascinated at the amount of blood on my fingers. When was the last time I had gotten injured? A hazy childhood recollection swam before my vision. "Well, now that you mention it…" Frowning, I trailed off and promptly blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: Sorry, but school is starting tomorrow. DX I will be a junior, so I will be immensely busy. I will try to update once a month, but school is inevitably more important than my hobbies. Thank you for being understanding.

* * *

><p><em>Go big or go home.<em>

XXX

When I awoke I was very comfortable, snuggled against something incredibly warm and soft. However, the incredibly warm and soft chair seemed to be moving, and it jarred my brain every time we moved up and down. Suddenly, we came to a halt, and I breathed in relief, attempting to go back to sleep.

"Let's see…Tsubashi District 2-5-10. Must be that building over there," the chair said, and I frowned in slight confusion. Tsubashi District was in a city. What was a doing in a city? How did I get here…?

"That's the exam site?" a familiar voice asked, whistling in appreciation.

"Wow!" another familiar voice exclaimed excitedly. "We should wake Arella up; she'd want to see this!"

"Now, now, Gon," a third voice chimed in, shedding some light on my situation. "She's clearly suffering from sleep deprivation and nutritional deficits."

"Not to mention blood loss," the second voice added.

_That's right_, I realized. _I'm travelling with Gon, Kurapica, and Leorio. What happened? Why am I—_ "The exam!" I blurted, flailing my arms and managing to fall out of the arms of the disguised kiriko who had been kind enough to carry me.

I landed on the floor with a thump and moaned. "Ow, my head," I complained, glaring up at the boys with watery eyes.

"Arella, you're awake after all!" Gon said happily, oblivious to my foul mood. At his side, Kurapica sighed resignedly, and I was relieved to see he was wheeling along my bicycle.

Leorio kneeled beside me and grabbed my wrist. He checked my pulse, peering into my eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked briskly. "Headache? Nausea? Any unusual pains?"

My free hand moved to my neck to find it had been bandaged and was no longer bleeding. "A little dizzy," I confessed. "But that's only because I'm hungry." I snatched my hand back and folded my arms. I glanced around at the busy plaza. How had we gotten here, anyway?

"Yes, we're getting something to eat now," our kiriko guide assured me, much to the incredulity of the boys beside me.

"…Aren't we going to the examination site?" Kurapica asked uncertainly, pointing to the large and imposing building in front of me.

It must have been several hundred floors! Daunting archways, beautiful outdoor décor—I couldn't wait to see what beautiful furnishings waited indoors. I stared, transfixed. _What a place!_ I thought. _It's so magnificent. I can't believe I'm this much closer to becoming a hunt—_

"That's not the exam site," the navigator declared, pointing to the left. "That's the one."

We all turned our heads to the side, noticing for the first time a small, dingy restaurant called Meshidokoro Gohan.

I blinked slowly. "…Food?" I asked hopefully.

"No matter how I look at it, it's just a normal restaurant," Kurapica said, frowning.

Leorio seemed to agree. "Hey, Mr. Navigator—you're joking, right? You're telling me that all the hunter prospects from the entire world are gathered here?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," the kiriko acknowledged. "No one would expect the hunter exam, which expects millions of applicants, to be in a place like this, right?"

"Food," I insisted. Honestly, these boys had such a one-track mind. We hadn't eaten for more than a day, hadn't had a decent night's sleep in even longer (fainting didn't count), and they were _still_ more concerned about the appearance of a building than they were about basic necessities?

"Yes, yes," the navigator agreed, laughing. "Let's go in now and get some food."

He moved to open the door, but I hesitated. "Should I leave my bike here?" I asked, worried that someone might steal it.

"No, no, bring it with you," the navigator stated, waving off my concerns. I raised an eyebrow, but complied.

We entered the small restaurant, expecting to see something special, but it was indeed just a normal restaurant, with customers and chefs. Some of the consumers looked astonished that I was rudely bringing a bike into the restaurant, and I blushed.

"Welcome!" one of the chefs exclaimed, and we gathered around him. "Your order?" he asked.

"The steak meal," the kiriko said, and I hummed in appreciation. Steak sounded heavenly.

The cook's eyes sharpened, and he spoke in a lowered tone, piquing my curiosity. "How would you like it cooked?" he asked.

"Slowly over a weak fire," the kiriko said slyly.

"Coming right up," the chef said, and a waitress suddenly appeared.

"Please, follow me to this room," she said, leading us to a backdoor.

By now, I figured that this was a password exchange of some sort, though I was still more concerned with actually getting the meal we'd just ordered. We entered the room, and I smiled dreamily at the meat cooking at the table.

"One out of ten thousand," the navigator said, interrupting my thoughts.

"…What?" I asked, momentarily distracted.

"That's the probability of making it to this room. You guys have done extremely well for beginners," he explained. He began to back out of the room. "Alright, then. Good luck, rookies. We'll be more than happy to guide you guys next year, too!"

"Ah, thank you for carrying me," I said, only just remembering my manners.

The kiriko nodded in acknowledgement, waved goodbye, and closed the door behind him.

To my surprise, the room began to move downward, like a giant elevator. I shrugged, taking a seat at the table and digging in to the meal.

"That was rude," Leorio protested at the kiriko's parting words. "He made it sound like he knew we wouldn't pass this year."

"One in three years," Kurapica replied grimly. "The probability of a rookie passing the exam, so they say."

"Why do people go through such hardships to become a hunter?" Gon asked, astounding everyone in the room.

"You mean you came to take the exam without knowing why?" I asked incredulously. "You literally had no purpose in becoming a hunter?"

"Hunters are the most well-paid/respected people in the world!" Leorio exclaimed with Kurapica, respectively. They both immediately turned to glare at each other.

I shrugged, snagging more meat off the stove as the two eldest argued it out. They began spouting paragraphs of information on the benefits of becoming a hunter, though I only listened with half an ear. To be honest, I agreed more with Leorio—after all, the reason I was taking the hunter exam was for the money.

They both turned to Gon, fed up with attempting to convert one another. "Gon, what kind of hunter do you want to become?" they demanded.

Poor Gon looked conflicted. "…I'm not too sure," he hedged.

He was saved from giving a more detailed response by the ding of the elevator.

"Well, hate to interrupt, but looks like we've arrived," I said loudly, stuffing one last piece of meat in my mouth.

"We'll continue this talk later!" Leorio groused.

I rolled my eyes as we stood and made our way to the door. I carefully maneuvered my bicycle to my side. The moment we exited the elevator, we were accosted with hostile stares from all directions.

Gon, of course, seemed unaffected by all the antipathy. "Wow, this place is dark," he exclaimed excitedly. "Looks like some kind of underground passageway. How many people are here?"

"You guys would make it 406," a voice replied, and we turned to see a diminutive man leap down from a pipe attached to the wall. "Yo, I'm Tompa," he said, shaking Gon's hand. "Pleased to meet you."

As Gon shook Tompa's hand, a small man came up beside us. "Please take a number," he said, handing us small, circular cards. I took a glance at mine and raised my eyebrows in surprise. 406, indeed. Quite a lot of people. I stuck the plate to the front of my shirt.

"You're new, right?" Tompa asked us.

Gon blinked in bewilderment. "How did you know that?"

Tompa laughed. "Of course I know! Since I was ten years old, I've taken this exam 35 times. I guess you could call me a veteran. If there's anything you want to know, feel free to ask me!"

"Thank you!" Gon replied sincerely, though I was immediately wary.

"That's not anything worth bragging about," Leorio whispered.

Kurapica nodded. "I agree," he said.

"It's kind of suspicious," I added, "that he should have the skill level to keep from dying for 35 years in a row, but not enough skill to pass."

"We'll keep an eye on him," Kurapica assured me.

Gon, though, was completely unsuspecting. "Do you know everybody here?" he asked excitedly.

"Of course!" Tompa laughed. "Alright! Let me introduce you to everyone!" He began to point to people. "Number 103 is Barbon the Snake Tamer. He's extremely tenacious, so it'll be a pain if you make him your enemy." Gon nodded in understanding.

Tompa turned around and directed our attention to others. "Number 76 is Cherry. He's a martial artist and is unsurpassed when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Number 255 is Todo the Wrestler. He has incredible strength and is surprisingly intelligent as well. Numbers 197 to 199 are the Amori brothers. They always perform well with their impressive combination play. Finally, Number 348 is Gereta the Hunter, who can capture any kind of beast with his arrows and club. These are just about the ones who come every year. They're highly skilled, but barely miss the cut every exam."

"GYAAAA!" A savage scream suddenly interrupted Tompa, and everyone whirled to stare at Number 58, whose arms had both been sliced off. "M-my aaaaarms!" he wailed.

"Oh my, how strange," a tall man with bright orange hair said gleefully. I shivered at the intense bloodlust he was admitting. It made me want to immediately go into a state of zetsu—cut off all my aura in the hopes I could simply disappear—but I knew if I did, his attention would immediately be riveted towards me. "Your arms have disappeared. You should be careful to always apologize when you bump into someone."

"Ah crap," Tompa muttered. "We got a dangerous one this year again. Number 44, Hisoka the Magician."

I stiffened immediately at the name. Kurapica was the only one to notice, as he was standing the closest to me.

Tompa explained how Hisoka had been disqualified for almost killing an examiner the last year. I missed many of his words, as I could hear nothing but the blood pounding in my ears. My father's murderer was right here, right in front of me…and I was not strong enough to avenge his death.

I knew if I attacked Hisoka now, I would only die in vain. Like Leorio had said earlier, I was a bleeder. The smallest cut could kill me if left unattended. The most I could do was to suppress my nen and pray that I stayed out of Hisoka's radar.

Being weak infuriated me. My nen ability was next to useless in a fight. I could only run away or protect myself, but I wanted more. I wanted to be able to hurt, to kill Hisoka—draw out his painful demise…

A hand brushed against my arm, and I flicked my eyes to the side, noticing that Kurapica was looking very concerned. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to focus on Tompa's words.

"—other dangerous people around here," Tompa was saying, "but I'll let you know ahead of time so you don't have to worry."

"Okay," Gon agreed cheerfully.

"Oh, that's right," Tompa said suddenly, taking out five cans of soda. He offered four of them to us. "Aren't you thirsty? Have some. Let's drink to everyone doing well."

"Thank you!" Gon exclaimed, smiling.

Mechanically, I reached forward and took a can, struggling not to crush it in my fist. By now, Leorio had also realized that I was behaving strangely, and seemed to be pondering on what to ask.

Before anyone could say anything, though, Gon drank a mouthful of the soda and immediately spat it out. "Blech," he complained. "Tompa, this juice must be old! It tastes weird."

"Wh-what?" Tompa stammered. "Really? How strange…" There was no doubt in my mind that Tompa had put something in the drinks.

As if on cue, Kurapica and Leorio poured out their cans on the floor. Seeing how unresponsive I was being, Kurapica grabbed my can as well and dumped it out for me.

"I-I don't know what to say!" Tompa gasped, bowing profusely.

"It's okay," Gon assured him. "You don't have to apologize. But it's a good thing I was the first to drink it. I've spent a lot of time in the mountains and I've eaten a lot of different plants so even if it tastes a little weird, I can tell right away."

"Whew," Tompa exhaled nervously. "That's a relief." Finding that we were beginning to act unsympathetically towards him, he made a quick escape, conceivably to trick other rookies.

With Tompa out of the picture, Kurapica turned to me. "Arella, what—"

"Hisoka the Magician," I hissed murderously, glaring at the floor. "I want him to die."

"What?" Leorio blurted. "Weren't you listening to Tompa? He told us to stay away from him at all costs!"

"As a matter of fact, I wasn't listening to him," I spat, clenching and unclenching my fists around my bicycle handles.

Kurapica understood at once. "He's the one who murdered your father and hospitalized your brother," he stated, managing to make it sound like a question.

My shoulders started to tremble. Arms wrapped themselves around me, and I started at the unexpected contact, blinking at Gon, who had latched himself to my torso.

"My Aunt Mito hugs me when I'm feeling sad," he explained, looking up at me with large, innocuous eyes. "So maybe you'll feel better if I give you one, too!"

"Yeah, group hug with a pretty girl!" Leorio cheered, and draped himself around Gon and me, almost knocking my bike over. "C'mon, Kurapica!"

Kurapica shifted uncomfortably. "I hardly think now is the time to—" he began, but was interrupted by Leorio.

"Don't be such a sick-in-the-mud," Leorio needled.

With an all-suffering sigh, Kurapica rolled his eyes and quickly threw his arms around us.

Maybe because Hisoka was no longer in my line of sight. Maybe it was because the ridiculousness of the situation. Maybe it was because everyone in close proximity was staring incredulously at our impromptu dog-pile. In any case, I started to laugh hysterically.

"Thanks," I gasped in between chuckles. I leaned against my bicycle for support. "I'm feeling better already."

"You know, when you say it like that it makes me worry more," Leorio pointed out, perturbed.

I waved off his concerns, still snickering.

"By the way, about before, when we were chasing the kirikos," Kurapica started, but was interrupted suddenly by a loud alarm.

"JIRIRIRIRIRIRIIII—" It was cut off by a lean man, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

_A nen user_, I thought to myself. Kurapica looked incensed that he had been cut off from what he'd been about to say, and I wondered what could be so important.

"Now," the strange man said, "this concludes the registration. We will commence the hunter exam."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: I promised to update monthly, so here's the September entry! (: Comments and critiques are welcome, as always!

* * *

><p><em>A friend to all is a friend to none.<em>

XXX

The examiner gestured deeply into the underground tunnel before us. "Please, this way."

The crowd began to follow him into the darkness. "I will confirm one more time," he stated. "The hunter exam is extremely difficult, so whether it is because of unfortunate luck or a lack of skills, you can get hurt of even die. There have also been numerous instances where examinees have been incapacitated by other examinees. If this does not matter to you…please follow me."

As expected, no one except for the man who had gotten his arms cut off by Hisoka stayed behind. "Understood," the examiner said. "405 applicants will participate in this first exam."

Leorio sighed from beside me. "As expected, not even a single one's chickening out," he said quietly. "I was kind of hoping for a few."

No one answered, as we were more preoccupied with the sudden realization that the people around us had begun to jog.

"Hey, what the heck!" Leorio exclaimed. "Is it just me, or is everyone starting to pick up their pace?"

"The pace has really quickened all of a sudden," Kurapica observed.

I nodded, finally mounting my bicycle. "Yeah, the people in front of us are even running!"

The examiner began to speak again. "I forgot to introduce myself," he said sheepishly. "My name is Satotsu, and I'm the examiner for the first exam. I will now escort you all to the second exam site."

"The second exam…?" one of the examinees asked. "Then what about the first?"

Most of the people around me gave similar shouts of confusion, even as Satotsu picked up the pace further, forcing those in front to run or risk being left behind. "The second exam has already begun. Yes, to follow me to the second exam site is your first exam," he clarified. "I cannot disclose the destination or the duration of the trip. You will simply have to follow me."

"What a strange exam," Gon decided.

"Is this a test of endurance?" Leorio asked, eyes bright with exhilaration. "Alright then! I'll follow you wherever you go!"

Just then, a white-haired boy rolled right by us on his skateboard, causing Leorio to point accusingly. "Hey kid! That's not fair! You're cheating!"

"Leorio, I'm on a _bicycle_," I pointed out, and he gaped, as though noticing for the first time.

"Ah, that's right!" he exclaimed loudly. "Arella, how could you? Both of you are cheating!"

"How come?" the boy asked, calmly turning around to face Leorio.

"What do you _mean_ 'how come'?" Leorio cried. "Because this is a test of your endurance! Arella, ditch the bike!" I virtuously resisted the urge to smack him.

"But you're wrong," Gon defended us. "The examiner just said to follow him."

Leorio whipped his head around to yell. "Gon! Whose side are you on?"

"Mine, of course," I said haughtily, smiling widely.

Kurapica sighed, closing his eyes. "Don't waste your stamina like that. You really should just stop talking. As long as you don't cheat, this test allows you to use anything you want."

Leorio fumed, though the white-haired boy looked thoughtful. "How old are you?" he asked Gon.

"I'm almost 12," Gon declared, and the newcomer hummed while thinking.

"Fine, I'll run too," he decided, flipping his skateboard in the air and catching it with one arm.

I stifled a laugh. It seemed that the boy was determined to show that he wasn't inferior in any way to someone who seemed to be near his age. "Your loss," I said, "but I'm keeping my bicycle. No way would I be able to keep up otherwise."

However, Gon was more than entertained at the white-haired boy's skateboard trick. "Whoa! That was cool!" he shouted, and he immediately began to chat animatedly with his new friend.

"I'm Killua," the boy declared.

"I'm Gon!" Gon replied.

"Hey, Mister, what's your name?" Killua asked Leorio.

"M-Mister?" Leorio spluttered. "I may look old, but I'm still in my teens, just like you guys!"

"Leorio, if you don't want to be called old, then don't be old!" I teased, causing him to go into another fit.

Kurapica smacked his palm into his forehead and attempted to surreptitiously distance himself from the group.

I laughed, then paused in thought. I followed him at his pace easily on my bike. "Right, Kurapica—what were you saying before?" I asked, and he scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Before…?" he asked, trying to remember what I was talking about.

"You know, right before the exam started, you were about to say something about the kirikos, but then the starting bell went off," I described.

His eyes widened in recollection. "Ah, right!" he exclaimed. "Arella, I was going to ask about your special power!"

This time, _I_ scrunched up my face in confusion. "My…my special power?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes," Kurapica affirmed. "The one you used during our fight with the kiriko beasts, when you snapped your fingers. I've been meaning to ask for a while."

"Oh, is _that_ what that was? A special power?" Leorio asked, coming up alongside us. "I saw you snap your fingers once, but I didn't really think much of it, 'cause I was more preoccupied with treating the younger kiriko's fake injuries."

A quick glance told me that Gon was still with Killua, away from the three of us. "Ah, that's just nen," I explained. "When I snap my fingers, I can harden air particles to create a solid wall of air."

Leorio whistled. "That's pretty handy," he commented. "How d'you do that?"

I chewed my lip, trying to find an adequate explanation. "It's…it's just nen," I said helplessly. "Everyone's got nen, but some people never learn how to use it. The abilities differ from person to person. If you'd like, I can teach you both the basics when the exam is over."

"Does it take a long time?" Kurapica asked.

"Well, yes," I said, "especially if you want to master it. It took me all my life to get to this point, and my father always said I never even realized half of my potential. It's really quite useful."

"Yes, but you must have been quite young when you started learning," Kurapica pointed out.

"That's true," I allowed, "so it'll probably take you less time."

"Can you choose what power you get?" Leorio asked excitedly, no doubt imagining himself as some super-human hero.

I frowned, thinking. "I'm not sure," I said slowly. "I think your inner desires help to point your nen in the right direction, but I don't think that you can outright choose what skill you get. It's like how I bleed a lot when I'm cut. I think my nen ability developed to help make up for my deficiencies. Ever since I got the hang of my nen, I haven't really ever been injured."

"That would be useful," Kurapica murmured.

"Tell me about it," Leorio agreed. "I could do something like make all the counterfeit money I want, and no one would ever be able to tell the difference."

I cracked up at Kurapica's appalled expression.

XXX

Four hours later, I no longer felt like laughing.

In fact, I no longer felt like doing _anything_ besides dropping dead on the floor. I couldn't believe how obstinate these people were. My legs were turning to lead and my arms were beginning to feel numb. And I was still on my bicycle.

I rolled my bicycle to a stop as Leorio ceased running.

"Leorio!" Gon's concerned voice cut through my jumbled thoughts, and I turned just as Leorio barreled past me, roaring at the top of his lungs. He had dropped his suitcase, and was quickly leaving it behind.

"NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM BECOMING A HUNTER!" he bellowed, speeding even past Kurapica, who was staring in bewilderment.

I glanced at Gon as he swiftly looped the end of his fishing rod around the suitcase, pulling it towards him. "You want me to attach that to my bike?" I asked. "It'll be easier."

"It's fine," Gon assured me, and Killua pulled him into another conversation. "Thanks anyway," he added. I smiled at their instant friendship. It was a good thing Gon had met another kid his age in the exam.

My smile was wiped off of my face the second I saw the stairs.

Satotsu seemed to sense our despair, and turned with a smirk on his face. "Now," he announced, "I'm going to pick up the pace a bit."

I smacked myself in the forehead, causing both Kurapica and Leorio to look at me with apprehension. "_No_," I moaned, rolling my bicycle to a stop again. "I can't bike up stairs."

Leorio rolled his eyes. "Yeah, now you can suffer like the rest of us," he snickered.

"But I don't want to suffer like the rest of you," I whined. I glanced at the stairs, then back at my bike. "They don't seem too steep. Maybe if I—"

"No," Kurapica said firmly, grabbing the back of my bicycle.

"But I—"

"_No_," he repeated sternly, and that was that.

I remorsefully ditched the bicycle and started up the steps. "That was a gift," I complained.

"Really?" Leorio asked in surprise. "That thing didn't look new."

"Hey, my neighbor gave his old bike to me when he found out I was planning on taking the hunter exam out of the goodness of his heart," I said, affronted. "It's the thought that counts. Plus it was really useful in this exam." As I said this, I realized it was very likely that I might not have passed if it weren't for the bicycle. I resolved to give my neighbor a call when I had the chance to thank him.

As the hours passed, people began to drop out, one by one, leaning against the walls when they could no longer climb. I, myself, was feeling more than a little winded, though not as much as Leorio, who had completely shed his upper torso clothing.

Gasping for breath as he ran, Leorio had completely transformed himself. His suit was wrapped around his waist and his tie dangled around his neck like a scarf. Concerned, Kurapica and I exchanged a glance. It was hard to believe this puffing, sweating, looking-as-though-he-were-dead man would make it through even this first round, let alone all of them.

"Leorio, are you alright?" Kurapica asked.

"Yeah!" Leorio wheezed. "As you can see, I realized that I can keep going as long as I don't try to keep up my appearances!" Neither Kurapica nor I was convinced, though we let him be. "I'm going keep going even if it means I have to go butt-naked!" he declared. "Kurapica! Arella! If you're going to pretend not to know me, now's your chance!"

"Heh. It's too late for that," I said cheerfully. "You guys are stuck with me forever."

To my left, Kurapica seemed to take Leorio's actions to heart, as he also removed his outmost layer of clothing, placing the cloak in his bag. "Leorio, can I ask you one thing?" he said suddenly.

"I don't want to waste my stamina by talking," Leorio replied mildly.

"Are you really trying to become a hunter only for money?" he asked, causing Leorio to look dumbfounded. "No, right?" he continued. "Although we've only known each other for a few days, I can at least tell that much. Your attitude can definitely be improved upon and you're not too bright—"

"Kurapica!" I interrupted hastily, seeing a vein begin to throb in Leorio's forehead.

"—but you don't seem like the materialistic type," Kurapica continued, undaunted. "I've seen many greedy people before, but you don't really fit the mold."

I winced, wondering how well I fit the mold, since my goal really was money.

I turned to see Leorio's reaction. "Geez," he sighed. "You sure like to argue with logic." He scrunched up his nose and pressed his lips together grimly.

"Scarlet eyes," Kurapica said abruptly. "It's the reason why the Kuruta tribe was targeted. The scarlet eyes refer to a unique trait that only the Kuruta tribe members possess. If our emotions become intense or excited, our pupils turn into a reddish color which makes them look as if they're on fire. If we die in that state, the scarlet color remains in the pupil. The tone of the eye is considered one of the seven most beautiful colors of the world. The Phantom Brigade massacred my tribe for the eyes. I will stop at nothing to capture them. And I will reclaim the eyes of my people! For this reason, I will become a hunter."

"…They've probably already been sold on the black market," Leorio pointed out nonchalantly, "and you won't be able to get close to the ones who bought them since they're probably either people of extraordinary power or wealth.

"I can if I'm a hunter," Kurapica responded calmly. "If I become a money-chasing contract hunter, I'll be able to gather all kinds of information."

"Contract…? That kind of hunter is the kind of pride-less hunter you hate the most," Leorio said in confusion. "Aren't they the kind of hunter who chase after petty riches like a dog?"

I winced at this, though remained quiet as Kurapica thought to himself. "My pride," Kurapica said slowly, "is meaningless in comparison to the pain of my people."

There was lengthy pause. "Too bad," Leorio finally said. "I don't have any kind of noble reason to compare to yours. My goal is simply money."

"Don't lie!" Kurapica exclaimed. "You can't honestly believe that you can buy everything with money!"

"Sure I can," Leorio replied loudly. "Material objects, dreams, love—even people's lives can be bought with money! _Everything_ has a price!"

"I cannot forgive you for that comment, Leorio!" Kurapica snapped. "Take it back!"

"Why? It's true!" Leorio retorted. "If I had money, my friend wouldn't have died!" There was an uncomfortable silence as Leorio realized what he had just revealed. "Damn," he sighed.

"Your friend was sick?" I whispered, suddenly seeing the similarities between my situation and Leorio's past.

"It wasn't an untreatable disease!" Leorio burst out heatedly. "The problem was the huge cost for surgery! I'm a simple guy, so I thought I could just become a doctor. It was my dream to treat the children who didn't have money, like my friend, and tell their parents, 'I don't need any money.'" He laughed bitterly. "What a joke! If I want to become that kind of a doctor, I need a fortune to pay my way! So do you understand now? Money, money, money! I need—"

He turned to glare at us and promptly lost his tongue. "A-Arella, are you crying?" he asked incredulously, causing Kurapica to whirl in alarm. Indeed, there were tears dripping down my cheeks, and I scrubbed furiously at them, causing my eyes to sting as I rubbed my salty sweat in my eyes. "You—I'm _sorry_," Leorio stammered in a horrified tone. "I wasn't mad at you or anything, really!"

I would have laughed at the flustered expressions on both their faces if I hadn't been crying my eyes out. Honestly, the lack of sleep, food, and rest was getting to me. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted, and it was showing.

"I _know_ that," I sniffled indignantly. "I just—the both of you… It's so _terrible_. And now you've both got me started on the possibility of my brother dying. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't pay for his hospital bills."

Kurapica cleared his throat. "I'm sure Leorio didn't mean to make you cry," he said nervously, and I immediately whapped him in the back.

"You, too!" I snapped, causing his eyes to widen in panic.

"I—well, that is—" He cut himself off. "I sincerely apologize for any discomfort I may have caused," he said formally, as Leorio snickered at his side.

"But really," Leorio said, shaking his head with a baffled expression on his face, "what is it with girls and crying? And then yelling right after! Is it, like, your time of the month or something?"

"You moron!" Kurapica hissed, going red instantly. "Shut up, now!"

Both boys turned to me in slight fear, as though I would cause them bodily harm. Feverish laughter bubbled up from my throat. "Yeah, sorry, sorry," I said, endeavoring to control my wayward emotions. "I—you're right, I'm talking crazy. What's done is done, so I just have to get stronger so I can kill Hisoka faster."

"That's not what I meant!" Leorio cried, dismayed. "Hisoka is out of your league! Revenge isn't always the best path—Kurapica, you say something, too!"

Kurapica gave Leorio a flat stare. "I'm not certain I am the best person to discourage vengeance," he said wryly.

I gave a watery smile, right as blinding sunlight hit our faces. "It's the exit!" people shouted around us.

"Alright! Just a little more, Leorio!" I said encouragingly, and we dragged ourselves up the last few steps.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: Aaaand here's October's chapter! (: Thanks to everyone for being patient! Your reviews always cheer me up when junior year comes around with a truck and smashes me into a puddle.

* * *

><p><em>All men are equal before an animal.<em>

XXX

Outside was burning, the sun beating down our flushed faces, and I almost regretted leaving the tunnels. At least it was cooler being surrounded by stone. Squinting in the distance as I rested my hands on my thighs, I breathed deeply. An unexpected uneasiness was rising in the back of my stomach, and I bit my bottom lip anxiously.

All the examinees were gaping at the swamp before us, filled with dark forests and mysterious animals.

"The Numere Marsh, otherwise known as the 'Swindler's Nest.' To reach the second exam site, you have no choice but to go through here," Satotsu explained. "The marsh is home to rare species that can't be seen anywhere else. Of all the species, the majority is cunning and greedy, and many feed on humans. Please take all precautions and stay alert at all times. Being fooled is as good as being dead."

I gulped as Satotsu continued to speak of the dangers of the quagmire. It really wouldn't do for me to die here, especially after all the research and general trouble I'd gone through to ensure I would be ready to pass the exam.

"It's a lie! He's lying to you!" a voice suddenly yelled, and I was startled out of my worries.

A man was stumbling towards us, dragging along what seemed to be a dead monkey. "He's a fake!" he cried, pointing an accusing finger. "He's not the examiner! _I'm_ the real examiner!"

Hundreds of faces turned towards Satotsu in uncertainty, jumbled mutters of confusion arising.

"A fake? What's going on?"

"Then who is he…?"

"Look at this!" the man shouted, holding up the monkey. "A human-faced monkey that lives in the Numere Marsh!"

I gaped, staring unabashedly at the monkey. If this was a hoax, it was a well-played one. The monkey greatly resembled Satotsu. Immediately, I felt ashamed for comparing Satotsu's appearance to that of the monkey. I'd feel awful if someone told me that _I_ looked like a monkey.

"Human-faced monkeys like fresh human meat, but their arms and legs are extremely weak because they're thin and lanky," the 'real' examiner explained. "So they disguise themselves as humans and discreetly lure their prey into the marsh and band together with other species to eat them!" He jabbed a finger at Satotsu. "That one's trying to lure all the examinees and decimate them all at once!"

As I was deliberating, caught between trusting Satotsu and trusting the stranger, playing cards shot through the air, slicing through the stranger's skull. He made a choking noise, dropping dead while I exclaimed in shock. Satotsu, on the other hand, skillfully caught all the cards with his fingers.

I felt an inescapable fury boil within me as Hisoka emerged from the crowd. I took a hostile step in his direction, but was halted by hands on both of my shoulders. Kurapica and Leorio had both taken the liberty to keep me still.

"Kukuku," Hisoka laughed, shuffling his remaining cards with glee. "I see, I see." He flung another couple cards at the retreating human-faced monkey's back, which had been attempting to run away. "This proves it," he said. "He's the real one. The real examiner wouldn't have been weak enough to be killed by my attack."

"…I'll take that as a compliment," Satotsu said, eyes narrowed. "However, any further attack on me will result in immediate disqualification. Understood?"

A savage part of me sincerely hoped Hisoka would go for another round, just so he would be disqualified. I couldn't even imagine a violent murderer like him qualifying to be a hunter.

"Yes, yes," Hisoka laughed, not looking worried in the least.

My eyes widened as a flock of deranged-looking birds swooped down upon the fresh corpse of the fake examiner, feasting upon his body. I felt bile rise in my throat and shuddered.

"Even if it's survival of the fittest, that's too much," Leorio muttered in disgust, turning away.

The examinees began to move once more through the marsh, and I sighed.

"I can't believe we're running _again_," Leorio complained, exactly voicing my thoughts.

Kurapica agreed with a frown. "Yes, the ground is really mushy, which makes it more tiring."

"Knew I should've kept my bike," I said mournfully, and the two boys rolled their eyes.

A few minutes into the marsh, and fog began to sweep in, surrounding us with gray. Suddenly, I felt edgy. This was the perfect opportunity for some wild animal or nefarious trap to kill me.

"Leorio! Kurapica! Arella!" Gon's voice echoed in front of us. "Killua says that it'll be better to move up front!"

I laughed as Kurapica and Leorio rolled their eyes in exasperation.

"You moron!" Leorio hollered.

"If we could've, we would've done so a long time ago!" Kurapica yelled.

"C'mon, there must be a way—just try to get out of there—"

"We _can't_!" I shouted back, sounding inappropriately gleeful. Somehow, hearing Gon's simplistic views on things made life so much easier. "You have fun with Killua up there!"

The fog became thicker around us, and clusters of people slowly began to be separated. Screams erupted from those unfortunate enough to have lost track of the main group. Of course, the group I was in became lost as well.

"Man, all of a sudden, this place has fallen into a state of complete panic," Leorio exclaimed.

"The group behind us must have been led astray," Kurapica reasoned, though his tone was sharp and frustrated.

I opened my mouth to reply, but instead whirled away as a card sliced through the air where my eyes had been moments before. I dodged two more in quick succession, as hoarse screams exploded from all around me. Leorio shouted as a card embedded itself in his arm, and I glanced at him in concern.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Leorio growled at Hisoka, who merely chuckled disturbingly.

"Playing examiner," he said, shuffling his cards. "I was planning on behaving myself until at least the second exam… But the first exam is boring me, so I figured I'd help with the selection process. I will judge every one of you." He jeered sinisterly.

"Judge us?" one of the more imprudent examinees barked. "Ha, are you stupid? Once you lose the examiner in this fog, it's over. You can't even see what's in front of you! It's absolutely impossible to find the examiner again!" He pointed angrily at Hisoka. "So that means you're also eliminated with the rest of us!"

A card entrenched itself in his forehead, and he fell backwards with a grunt. "How insulting," Hisoka said mildly. "How dare you compare me to the likes of you. As my gift for your journey to the underworld, let me teach you. There is nothing impossible for a magician."

Foolishly, the remaining examinees surrounded Hisoka in an attempt to appear menacing.

"You don't have the right to become a hunter!" one shouted.

"We will make sure you never take this exam again!" another supplied.

Hisoka merely smirked. "Is that so…?" he asked. He lifted the four of hearts. "This one card is enough for all of you combined," he taunted.

"We'll shut you up!" the men roared, rushing at him with their weapons drawn.

In mere seconds, Hisoka swept through the crowd, swiping at his attackers' throats. He even killed those who had given up and were attempting to run away, all the while laughing maniacally. "You guys are all eliminated," he sang. He turned to glance at us. "Only you four left," he murmured, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Hey, when I give the signal, scatter and run," someone whispered next to me. "He's strong. Even if we attack him together, we don't stand a chance."

I shifted my eyes to look at the three boys beside me. Kurapica, Leorio, and Number 76, a stranger. Leorio was injured, and all of us were severely fatigued. If Hisoka really wanted to, he could kill us easily, even if we all ran in opposite directions. I knew, however, that I desperately wanted to attack Hisoka, even if it meant my untimely death. Logically, I realized anger was clouding my judgment, but I couldn't seem to calm down.

"I'll hold him off," I offered, and all three boys glared back at me.

"Don't be crazy!" Number 76 spat. "Just run when I say to."

I shrugged, but my mind was already made up.

"Run!" Number 76 shouted, and the boys bolted. I glimpsed three identical looks of horror when they realized I wasn't moving, before they were swallowed up in the fog.

Hisoka and I remained behind, and I refused to regret my decision. "Oh?" Hisoka said. "So they're splitting up—smart move. Now, what are _you_ doing?" he asked me.

Good question—what _was_ I doing? I didn't have any offensive power. My punches were weak; my kicks were useless. What could I do? Trap Hisoka with air and _somehow_ manage to kill him? Yeah, right. If I didn't come up with something fast, I was seriously going to die.

I took a slow breath, trying to make every second last so that the others could escape. "I'm going to kill you," I asserted resolutely, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

"Hm," Hisoka hummed. "And you think you can do that?"

"Well, normally I'd say no," I admitted, "but at this point I don't really care."

Hisoka leered. "You know, I noticed that throughout the exam you've had an awful lot of stifled killing intent aimed towards me, and it made me wonder." He shifted into a fighting stance. "Did I kill one of your precious people in last year's exam?"

With an enraged snarl, I lunged at him, snapping my fingers.

Walls of air appeared around me, cushioning me against Hisoka's returning blows. I flipped over his head, throwing a halfhearted kick at his legs.

Hisoka uninterestedly leaped backwards with one arm, the other unenthusiastically flinging a card aimed for my throat. I caught the card and hurled it back at him with equal force.

"Ah, a nen user," Hisoka hummed gleefully, snatching the card out of the air. "There were a couple nen users last year, as well. I don't suppose you were related? A shame, since I'm sure I killed the adult. Not too sure about the younger. Are you trying to avenge them? I suggest you give up while you're still alive. You're even weaker than they were."

"I'll kill you!" I shrieked, as the pain of my father's death hit me tenfold. I rushed forward, completely disregarding my weak combative aptitude.

Smirking, he caught my arm, flipping me over his back. As I flew through the air, my arm twisted in Hisoka's hold. I realized if I continued to fall, I'd likely break my arm, so I immediately snapped my fingers, landing neatly in the air besides Hisoka's head.

Surprised, he let go of my arm, and in an instant I was twenty feet away and ten feet above his incredulous eyes.

"How…_interesting_," he murmured, glancing up at me with narrowed eyes. I struggled to contain my terror as his killing intent shot up several notches. "Not quite that weak, then?" He showed his teeth, taking a step towards me.

I stiffened, but he only paused, tilting his head to one side.

To my left I just made out Leorio's figure, calmly walking back towards us. "I just can't," he said through gritted teeth. "No way am I going to leave with my tail between my legs while you try to kill my friend!" He charged towards Hisoka, a large stick in his hands.

"Leorio!" I cried, as Hisoka disappeared, reappearing behind him. Hisoka reached out a hand and—

_Crack_!

The end of Gon's fishing rod smashed into Hisoka's face, and we all froze in trepidation.

"…Not bad, little boy," Hisoka praised, turning his attention towards Gon instead, who seemed to be frozen in fear. "A fishing rod, eh? What an interesting weapon. Can I see it?" Hisoka asked, sauntering away from us and towards the boy.

"Where do you think you're going?" Leorio snarled, raising his stick in preparation to strike.

My eyes widened when I realized I was too far away to use my nen and dropped from the air, lurching between Hisoka and Leorio, just in time to block the vicious left hooker he threw. The force hurled me backwards into Leorio, and we both went tumbling into the grass. It hurt more than I thought it would, especially when my skull cracked against the ground.

I blacked out for a moment, waking just in time for Hisoka to say to Gon, "Don't worry, they aren't dead. They passed." Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I glared. It seemed Hisoka's bloodlust had almost completely dissipated. "Okay! You pass too," Hisoka told Gon cheerfully. "Become a good hunter."

A radio beeped in Hisoka's pocket. "Hisoka, you should come back now. I think we're about to reach the second exam site," a voice said monotonously.

"Okay, I'll be right there," Hisoka acknowledged. He turned back to Gon. "It's nice to have friends."

He made his way over to Leorio and me, and blinked in false surprise. "Oh, you're awake already? I suppose I didn't hit you hard enough."

"Shut up," I spat murderously. "Stay away."

He shrugged, smirking, and reached over to pick up Leorio. I made to step between them, but he simply snapped out a fist, and I dropped like a stone onto all fours.

The realization that he had gone _very_ easy on me in our fight was humiliating, but I could do nothing but cough as Hisoka slung Leorio over his shoulder and casually ambled away. "You can get back on your own, right?" he asked Gon, who nodded his head dumbly. "That's a good boy," he said, fading into the fog.

As soon as he was out of sight, Gon sank to his knees. I dragged myself next to him, feeling as though I had just had an ineffably close shave with death. "You alright?" I asked weakly, rubbing my ribs, and he nodded, though he still seemed unable to speak.

That was fine with me. I let him keep his silence, thinking to myself. My goal was to become a hunter in order to get enough money to pay back Trace's hospital bills. However, I wasn't strong enough even to defend myself against opponents like Hisoka. If my defense was as weak as my offense, I would surely die before managing to become a hunter. On top of my physical weakness, my hemophilia was another extreme disadvantage. Since I held the risk of dying after every little cut, I had to be twice as cautious as usual.

"Gon?" I heard Kurapica shout in confusion, and I was startled out of my thoughts.

I was astounded he had been able to find us in the fog, even with all the noise we'd been making. It couldn't have been easy, especially as the mist had probably amplified and echoed our voices, causing the sound to appear to have been coming from all directions.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to me as he came closer. "I wanted to come back the moment I left, but I couldn't f—"

"It's the fog, I know," I interrupted understandingly. "I _know_—that's why I volunteered to stay behind. Every extra second counts in this weather."

"But I…," he trailed off miserably, and I groaned, flopping backwards on the ground.

"I never blamed you, you big cow—now help me up!" I demanded, reaching up with both my hands like a newborn baby.

He glanced down at me, incredulous at my childish behavior. "_I'm_ the cow?" he asked, and my eyes narrowed immediately.

I kicked his legs out from under him, and he landed on top of Gon with a strangled yelp. This actually served two purposes: it snapped Gon out of his stupor and also got Kurapica out of his self-deprecating mood.

"Aw, Arella!" Gon whined. "Why'd you do that?"

"Both of you should have been able to dodge that. Kurapica, you must be really distracted if a single kick from me could take you down," I sniffed, crossing my arms in a completely unrepentant manner. "Now someone tell me some good news and tell me we're not out of the hunter exams yet."

I leaned back on the hard floor and told myself this wasn't the end.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: Thanks for waiting, guys-hope school isn't bringing you down! Here's November's update. (:

* * *

><p><em>Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.<em>

XXX

Gon sniffed the air and pointed. "This way!" he declared, while Kurapica and I shared a dubious glance.

I slowly inhaled the air myself to check, but was unable to distinguish anything unusual. "…Are you sure?" I asked skeptically. Though there was really no reason to doubt Gon, I found it difficult to believe he could really smell Leorio from so far.

"Yup!" Gon replied enthusiastically. "Leorio's cologne has an unusual scent, so it's easy to detect even several kilometers away. And animal corpses are littered around like markers. They were probably killed by Hisoka."

That last reason, I could understand. But smelling Leorio's cologne? I couldn't even _remember_ what it smelled like, let alone find and follow it in this vast jungle.

"Um, Kurapica, Arella," Gon started, "when Hisoka said that we passed, what could he have possibly meant? 'Don't worry, they aren't dead. They passed.'"

"He said he was playing examiner," Kurapica replied. "So basically, Hisoka was judging us."

"How?" asked Gon. "All Hisoka did was stare at me."

"But you hit him before that, right?" I said.

"And Arella survive in a fight with him," Kurapica added.

"Not really," I admitted meekly. "He wasn't being serious at all. So actually, Leorio and I just got beaten up. But we still passed, apparently."

Kurapica hummed. "Maybe he sensed a smell similar to himself from you?" he pondered. "I definitely do not think he possess the temperament of a hunter! However, I can't help but admit that his super-human movement and techniques are amazing. If you just consider his combat ability, he's a genius."

I nodded, having had similar thoughts. Even though I had been suppressing my nen throughout the exam, Hisoka had _still_ managed to sense my antipathy towards him. My _individual_ antipathy. Out of all of the animosity in the entire crowd of examinees.

If I were honest with myself, I'd tell myself that I was lucky to be alive. Of course, I much preferred to lie and claim I would've been able to escape the situation by using my nen ability.

"It's common for an individual with a unique ability to find others with a similar talent," Kurapica continued. "Perhaps with his instinct and experience, Hisoka felt that you the makings and potential of a hunter. He might have been thinking something like, 'they have too much potential to kill just yet.'"

Wincing, I held up my arms in an X shape, shaking my head.

Kurapica seemed to realize what I meant. "Ah, sorry," he apologized. "My words were insensitive."

Gon frowned in thought. "I think I can understand a little now," he said. "That strange sensation I felt at that moment… The intensity scared me and I really wanted to run away, but I couldn't even turn my back on him. I thought I was going to die. But on the other hand… I don't know why—even though it was a desperate situation where I was facing death—I felt a little nervous with excitement. Isn't it strange?"

"Yeah, that's strange," I said bluntly. "You should've been scared out of your mind. Heck, _I_ was scared out of my mind. You're still a kid—act like it."

Gon pouted, but didn't argue. "Ah, there they are!" he exclaimed suddenly, pointing in the distance.

I could see a warehouse getting closer as we ran, along with all the examinees that'd successfully passed the second round.

"I don't think we're late," Kurapica murmured, and I made a noise of agreement, scanning the crowd for Leorio.

I flinched as I felt a sudden burst of nen, and whirled around to face Hisoka, who was standing at our backs. He smiled friendlily, as though we hadn't just scraped through a deadly encounter with him, and pointed to his right. There, we found Leorio sitting underneath a tree, looking positively confused.

Marching right up to him, I grabbed his jacket—which was around his waist—and buried my nose into it, taking deep breaths.

"Um, Arella, what are you doing?" Leorio asked, bewildered. Kurapica and Gon looked just as confused.

I ignored him. "Jeez, Gon—I can barely smell it even from here," I complained. "You're like an animal!"

Gon sulked as I shook Leorio's jacket in his face. "It really is a unique scent, though!" he protested, as Kurapica bent down to Leorio's level.

"You seem fine except for the injury on your arm," Kurapica said, checking him over for any new wounds.

"When did you wake up?" Gon asked, effectively distracted from our bickering.

Leorio frowned. "Uh, just a little while ago. But how did I get injured?" he asked. "I can't seem to remember anything from after we entered the marsh."

I had a quick, whispered conference with Gon and Kurapica, and we decided against telling him. No need for him to get all upset and demand a rematch or something equally dumb.

All problems set aside for the time being, we finally turned towards the rest of the examinees. "Why is everyone outside?" Gon wondered.

"We can't go in," a voice answered.

Gon spun around with a wide smile on his face. "Killua!"

"What kind of magic did you use?" he asked, laughing. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it back at all."

A quick explanation followed, with Killua's facial expression moving swiftly from mildly curious to downright incredulous.

"You followed the scent of his cologne?" Killua exclaimed. "You… That's really strange, you know."

"Maybe," Gon admitted. "Arella said the same thing. So why isn't anyone going inside?"

Killua pointed to a sign, which read 'The second exam will start at noon.' "We can hear strange noises but no sign of anyone coming out. Guess we can only wait," he said, shrugging.

As the time ticked by, the crowd began to shift. "Everyone's getting so tense," I observed, starting to feel a little anxious myself.

"Since there's no way of knowing what might happen," Kurapica agreed.

"Heh, we might even get attacked by surprise," Leorio said, fisting his hands together in preparation.

When the minute hand struck twelve, the door slowly opened…to reveal a man and a woman sitting calmly inside.

I smacked myself in the head, realizing that the strange growling noises were not coming from an animal, but from the large stomach of the huge man inside the building.

"So? You really hungry?" the woman asked, looking up at the giant of a man behind her.

"Can't you hear it?" he replied, glancing at his stomach. "I'm starving."

The woman laughed and then called out to us. "So, for that reason, the second exam will be cooking! Cook up a dish that can satisfy us two gourmet hunters."

The man began to speak in a rumbling tone. "First, cook the dish that I designate—"

"—And only the ones who pass that will be allowed to cook the dish I designate," the woman finished. "So basically, only by getting us both to say 'it's delicious' can you pass the second exam! The exam will end when we're full."

All around me, people began to whisper.

"I don't know about the guy, but the girl doesn't look like she can eat a lot," someone muttered. "Many will be eliminated here."

"Man, I've never cooked before," Leorio said, and even Kurapica was looking concerned.

"I never imagined an exam like this," he admitted.

"I can only make basic meals," I sighed mournfully.

We waited as the giant spoke. "My menu is…whole roasted pig! My favorite." He pointed towards the forest. "As long as the pig resides in this forest, any type will do. The second exam has begun!"

At these words, people began to scramble towards the trees.

"To be honest, I'm relieved!" Leorio exclaimed. "It's a simple dish."

"All we have to do is catch a pig and roast it, right?" Gon asked, and Kurapica nodded.

"But we have to catch it quickly," I added, "since there's a limit to how much even that monster-man will eat."

We all skidded to a halt as a stampeding storm came upon us. Gigantic round beasts snorted at us, angry that we'd dared to enter their territory. With a great roar, they charged.

"Whoa!" we all yelled, leaping in all directions to avoid getting squashed.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Gon smashed his fishing rod down on the head of one pig, knocking it out in one fell swoop.

"Nice, Gon!" Leorio congratulated. "Looks like their heads are their weak-points."

"Their nose probably evolved over time to protect their weak forehead," Kurapica postulated.

In quick succession, we knocked out four of the pigs, cooked them as quickly as we could manage, and rushed back to the clearing to present them to the examiner. As I'd suspected, there were many other people who managed to pass the exam.

What surprised me, however, was the monstrous volume of the examiner's stomach. "I can't believe he managed to eat 70 of them," I mumbled feverishly, eyes wide.

"It's just impossible!" Kurapica was muttering next to me. "He ate more than his body weight!"

Leorio crossed his arms, looking resolutely unaffected. "Don't stress over it so much."

The female examiner seemed to be arguing with the male monster, telling him he had gone too easy on us. "But Menchi…," the man sighed.

She turned with an exasperated groan, ignoring him. "I'm not like Buhara," she said, pointing at the mountain-man behind her. "I'm going to be a little harder to please. I'm going to judge strictly as well! For the second half of this exam, the menu will be sushi!"

"…What?" I asked. "Zushi? Is that a name?"

"Sushi, I think she said," Leorio replied. "I've never heard of it, though."

Menchi laughed. "You all seem quite perplexed. It's not a surprise that no one knows what it is, since it's a traditional dish of a small island country."

She led us into the warehouse and spread her arms at the magnificent kitchen around her. "Here's a hint!" she cried. "Please look this way—this is where you'll be cooking! All the necessary ingredients and utensils are here. The essential ingredient, rice, has been prepared. And the biggest hint: I will only be accepting nigiri sushi, the kind made by clenching the rice with your hand! Alright, begin! The exam will end when I'm full! Until then, you can make as many as you want!"

And so it began.

"Nigiri zushi," I muttered, hefting a rice spoon in my hand.

"Sushi," Leorio corrected, though he looked as perplexed as I felt. "Clenching by hand… Well, I can imagine the basic shape of the dish. But what's the key ingredient?"

Kurapica leaned closer to us. "I've never actually seen the general shape, but I've read about this before."

I rolled my eyes. Of course Kurapica would have _read_ about sushi before. He had probably read every single book in the entire country by now.

"Most likely…," Kurapica continued, oblivious to my thoughts, "this is a dish where you add vinegar and spices to the rice, and then add fresh fish meat. I think."

"FISH? Do you realize we're in a forest?" Leorio thundered at the top of his lungs.

I slapped a hand to my forehead as every examinee in the whole building turned to stare at us with a predatory glance.

"Lower your voice!" Kurapica snapped. "There should be a river or a lake somewhere!"

However, the damage had already been done. All of the examinees made a mad dash out of the warehouse, each attempting to find a body of water.

"Damn, I can't believe those cheaters were eavesdropping!" Leorio complained.

I shared a helpless glance with Kurapica as we made our way to a lake.

"Hey, do you know how to catch fish?" Leorio asked us hesitantly. "We don't have anything to catch them with."

"It's not a problem," I said confidently, relieved that I could be of some use after all. Even if I couldn't hope to win a fight against Hisoka, I could catch a few measly fish. This was _my_ territory. I snapped my fingers and walked forward, directly onto the water's surface.

"You can walk on water, too?" Kurapica asked, shocked.

"No, I'm just hardening the air on top of the water," I replied. "I'm basically just floating. It's actually easier than walking on air, since I don't have to maintain my state in the air—the water does it for me. I told you, my nen ability is really useful."

"What do you mean by maintaining your state?" Kurapica asked curiously.

"It's like this," I explained. "Even if I make a wall of air, if I don't maintain the state, the hardened air can just be pushed around. It'll be like the wall isn't even there. So if I try to walk on air without maintaining the state of the wall, it would be similar to me trying to walk on air by standing on top of a thick book. I'd just fall. That's why I have to keep myself hovering the whole time I'm on air so that I don't sink. However, if I'm on water, the wall floats, so I don't have to maintain the state. Like, if you had a really large book, you'd probably be able to float on water, too. It's a little tricky maintaining my balance, though."

"And your dad said you haven't even realized half of your potential?" Leorio asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

I frowned, though still concentrating on finding a fish. "Yeah, I'm not too sure what he meant by that. He wouldn't explain, 'cause he wanted me to learn for myself or something."

A fish lazily swam underneath me, and I grinned triumphantly. "Aha!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers six times in quick succession, creating a box around the now-frantic creature. Bending down, I picked up the box of air right out of the water. "Here, catch!" I said, throwing the box at the two boys waiting by the shore.

Using this method, I caught a couple more fish, and we hurried back to the warehouse.

Leorio began to work immediately, and finished in less than five minutes. "I'm all done!" he announced. "I'm the first to finish!" He presented his dish to the examiner. "I call it the Leorio Special. Here, try it!"

The examiner lifted the top of the plate to see a glob of live fish surrounded by rice. "I'm not eating this," she said in disgust, throwing the dish over her shoulder. "Listen up! The shape is very important," she called to us. "If it's not shaped like nigiri sushi, it's not even worth trying!"

Examinee after examinee failed and failed to bring the examiner a successful dish, and she seemed to be getting more irritated with every failure. "There hasn't been a single one I've tried yet!" she complained. "Are you guys trying to starve me to death?"

Even the all-knowing Kurapica failed. "You're the same as 403!" the examiner snapped, causing Kurapica to spiral into a state of depression.

"The same…as Leorio," he gasped, causing Leorio to point angrily.

"Is that such a big shock, you punk?" he asked crossly.

"Geez, what's wrong with everybody?" the examiner angrily huffed. "Before I even consider observational skills, everyone's lacking common sense!"

I turned away, pouting, as I hadn't even begun to make my piece of 'sushi.' In my opinion, Menchi was the one without common sense. I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat a whole, live fish with rice.

"WHAT?" someone bellowed, and I whipped my head around in surprise. "What's so hard about packing a bite-sized amount of rice into a rectangular shape, and adding wasabi and thinly sliced fish meat on top? Something like this will taste the same no matter who makes it!"

_Bingo,_ I thought victoriously, immediately getting to work. I lined up with the rest of the examinees, waiting patiently for my turn.

With every failed contestant, I began to feel more nervous. Just as I was about to step forward, the examiner took a sip of her tea and sighed. "Sorry, I'm all full now!"

Dismayed, I looked sadly at my piece of what I believed to be sushi. Curious as to what it would taste like, I popped it into my mouth. Immediately, I dropped my plate and began to hurl.

"Arella?" Leorio exclaimed in surprise.

"What's the matter?" Kurapica asked anxiously.

"Disgusting," I gasped. "Raw fish—bleeeeh. No wonder she didn't like any of them. Zushi is such a disgusting dish."

Leorio sighed, realizing that I wasn't in any danger of dying. "It's _sushi_," he corrected again. "With an 's' sound."

Meanwhile, Menchi was on the phone. "Like I said, there's nothing I can do about it! It just happened that way!" She paused, listening to the response on the other end. "I don't want to! Results are results! We can't redo it!"

The examinees looked hopeful, wanting the person on the other end to talk some sense into our crazy examiner.

"This is different from the rules I first reported? How?" she demanded. "We first agreed that the only way anyone would pass is if I said their meal was delicious, right?"

Behind her, Buhara shook his head. "That was just the surface rule. The judging was supposed to be based on observational skills and—"

"I told you to stay quiet!" the angry woman snapped. "It's not like I didn't have a reason for this! One of the test takers knew how to make the dish, and that stupid baldy ended up blabbering it to everyone! My ruling stands—end of discussion!"

She turned to us, hanging up her cell phone. "The second half of the second exam—number of examinees passed is zero!"


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: The holidays are coming up! Here's December's update. (:

* * *

><p><em>You will never be hurt by what you have not said.<em>

XXX

"Man, is she for real?" Leorio muttered indignantly, glaring at Menchi.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the next anxiously. "It doesn't look as though she's joking," I professed. "But I'm really hoping for a miracle."

"Worst case scenario," Kurapica said, "is that we'll all fail and have to retake the exam next year."

"But I can't wait another year!" I cried, horrified. I couldn't even _imagine_ my mother letting me escape to take the dangerous hunter exam for a second year in a row. No doubt I wouldn't be escaping _anywhere_ once my mother was through with me.

"It doesn't sit right with me, either," Kurapica concurred gloomily. "To have to wait for another year is…"

"Beyond terrible," Leorio finished.

"Where are Gon and Killua, anyway?" I changed the subject, searching the crowd. "We kind of lost them in the middle of the exam."

"They're somewhere over there," Leorio answered vaguely, waving his hand off to the side.

Before I managed to find them, Number 255—Todo the Wrestler, if I recalled correctly—stepped forward and smashed a table with his bare fists.

"Wow," I said blankly. "Wasn't that thing made of metal?"

"I can't accept this," Todo seethed. "There's no way I'm going back like this! I'm not striving to become a cook or a gourmet! I'm training to be a hunter! And not just any hunter—a blacklist hunter! I can't let a petty gourmet hunter like you decide my future!"

I sort of felt that calling Menchi a 'petty gourmet hunter' wasn't exactly the right way to make her change her mind.

"That's just too bad," Menchi retorted, looking affronted as expected. "You just got unlucky with the examiner for this test. Try harder next year."

Todo growled, taking a heavy step forward. "You… Don't mess with me, you—"

With an almighty slap, Buhara sent Todo flying backwards, and he crashed through the warehouse's window and landed harshly on the ground. He didn't move.

"Buhara," Menchi snapped, "why'd you get involved?"

"Because if I didn't," Buhara replied evenly, "you would've killed him."

_Man, this lady is crazy_, I thought wildly. _Kurapica was wrong—the worst case scenario isn't that we'll fail. We might all die!_

"Hmph. Of course." Menchi sat up from her seat, twirling knives that had appeared out of nowhere. "A blacklist hunter? Don't make me laugh! You couldn't even stand a single blow from a gourmet hunter. It doesn't matter what kind of hunter you're aiming to become. Any kind of hunter has at least one form of martial arts that he or she can rely on!"

She flipped her knives expertly in the air, taking menacing steps towards us. "Even gourmet hunters have to enter beast lairs to look for rare ingredients. And if we come across poachers, we have to fight and capture them! You naturally learn how to fight if you're a hunter! What I want to see is the spirit of challenging the unknown!"

"But even so," a magnified voice said out of nowhere, "isn't failing everyone a little too much?"

We all rushed out of the warehouse in astonishment as a gigantic blimp floated towards us. On the side of the boat was the symbol of the hunter association.

"Is it the judging committee?" one optimistic examinee suggested loudly.

I crossed my fingers. _Please, give me another chance!_

From the sky, a small blob came hurtling towards us. As it descended, I realized it was a person—an old man, at that!

With a nimble hop, he landed directly in front of us.

I realized he must've been a powerful individual to survive that jump, meaning this guy must be…

"Chairman Netero of the judging committee," Menchi said, confirming my suspicions. "He's the head director of the hunter exam."

"I'm just a figurehead," Netero said modestly. "All I do now is sit around and show up to take care of the little troubles we run into." He stared pointedly at Menchi. "Menchi," he began.

"Yes!" she answered tensely. I was impressed that there were people in the world whom even Menchi feared.

"You sought to find from them the spirit of challenging the unknown, and the result is complete disqualification because of a problem with their attitudes?" the aged man asked in a rebuking manner.

Although looking cowed, Menchi disagreed. "No, it all started with the examinees finding out how to make the dish, which caused all kinds of problems. They all seemed to underestimate cooking, so I got mad…and lost my temper. And then I got full from tasting all their dishes."

"So basically," Netero summarized, "you realized that there was a problem in your judging method, correct?"

"…Yes," Menchi confessed. "I apologize! I tend to lose control of myself when it comes to cooking. I am a failure as an examiner. I will resign as an examiner, so please disregard the results of this test."

I high-fived Kurapica and Leorio excitedly. This was our chance!

"Hmm," Netero hummed. "Even if we were to continue with the test, the chosen menu seems to have been too difficult. Okay, how about we do this? We'll continue with the exam. However, we will choose a new test in which Menchi will first demonstrate it personally before we begin. How about that?"

I frowned. I supposed that would seem easier than making sushi.

"That will make it easier for the test takers to accept the result as well," Netero explained, and I realized this was true. Certainly, I'd feel better knowing that the exam was doable.

Menchi also seemed to be considering the president's words. "I see," she said, nodding. "Then…boiled egg."

Puzzled, I glanced at Kurapica and Leorio to see that they were just as perplexed as I was. What was so challenging about boiling an egg?

"Chairman, could you take us to the top of that mountain over there?" Menchi asked, pointing far in the distance.

"Certainly," Netero agreed.

All the examinees filed into the blimp. Pretty soon, we landed at the top of the large mountain.

"It's here," Menchi explained, pointing down into the deep ridge before us. She took off her boots. "Relax, there's a deep river below. But if you fall in, the currents are so strong that you'd be carried several kilometers to sea. I'll go first," she said, leaping off the cliff.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, rushing to peer over the edge.

"She must've gone looking for the egg of the spider eagles that live in Mafutatsu Mountain," Netero explained. "In order to protect its eggs from land predators, spider eagles hang their eggs on sturdy threads between canyons. You must catch a thread as you fall, pick an egg, and climb back up!"

"Here!" Menchi said, having already climbed back up the edge towards us. "All you have to do is boil the egg now," she told us cheerfully.

"Ah, that's a relief," Killua said from somewhere to my right. I craned my neck to see Gon and Killua standing off to the side.

"Yeah," Gon agreed. "I was waiting for something like this."

Leorio smirked. "Something like this is much faster and easier than any traditional dish."

I gaped as the examinees began to leap from the cliff. What crazy people! I shook my head, exasperated.

"And the rest of you guys?" Menchi asked, folding her arms. "Giving up?"

I scoffed, feeling irritated that she seemed to be underestimating my determination. "As if," I snapped, and dove over the edge.

The wind flapped in my clothes as I fell, and I groped blindly for a thread. I grabbed one, and hastily wrapped myself around it, feeling very terrified. "Insane," I muttered. "All these people are freaking crazy." Butterflies flailed inside my stomach, threatening to claw their way up my throat.

To my left, I saw Kurapica on another thread, looking rather startled. "Why didn't you use your nin ability?" he asked curiously. "You didn't have to jump."

"Nen," I corrected. "To be honest, I was going to," I admitted, "but then I realized that this test was most likely a measure of courage and determination. I felt like I'd be cheating if I used it, 'cause then there'd be no risk. And I also consider my nen usage to be somewhat unnecessary. I mean, everyone else is getting by the exam without it, so I'd feel a little pathetic if I were to rely on it all the time. The hunter exam is supposed to be doable without it. Using my nen to pass is like telling a second grader to take a first year course."

Kurapica looked thoughtful as he grabbed an egg from the hanging nests.

"Plus, it's more fun this way," I added, grinning. I seized an egg as Kurapica rolled his eyes, and together we climbed back up the cliff.

At the top, Menchi had a roaring fire going with a huge pot of boiling water. Each of the passed examinees placed an egg in the pot and began to wait. After a few minutes passed, Menchi began to pass out white eggs.

"These are normal boiled eggs," Menchi explained, then pointing towards the pot, "and those are the boiled spider eagle eggs. Compare the two carefully."

I peeled off the shell of the normal egg first and chewed slowly. After I was finished, I tried the spider eagle egg. The moment I placed the egg in my mouth, my eyes widened as my tongue did a little happy dance. How delicious! After eating such a rich and flavored egg, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to cheerfully eat a normal egg.

"Can you understand the joy of discovering something delicious?" Menchi asked, looking pleased with herself. "That's the kind of work I risk my life for."

In the end, 42 examinees were able to pass.

XXX

After the completion of Menchi's task, Netero herded us all back into the blimp.

"It might be time for the 42 remaining contestants to know who I am," he told us. "My name is Netero, and I'm responsible for the tasks as a member of the organization committee. I wasn't supposed to show myself until the final round, but I came sooner than expected."

I frowned to myself. Since he was saying that he came sooner than he should've, that meant that there was at least one more round between now and the final task. Judging from the amount of people left, I estimated that there would be at least three more tasks, assuming around ten people would be eliminated per round.

"Your anxiety is palpable, but I believe it's a good thing," Netero interrupted my thoughts. "So if you'll allow me to be among you for the time being…"

"We should arrive tomorrow around 8 at the site of the next trial," a portly man stated to Netero's right. I recognized the man as the one who'd passed out our numbers at the start of the first round. "We are waiting for them to contact us, so you are free to do whatever you want until we arrive."

I sighed in relief. I'd be able to take a nice long shower, maybe get some sleep…

"Hey, Gon! How about going on a tour of the blimp?" Killua suggested next to me, and Gon agreed enthusiastically.

Leorio gave an exasperated sigh. "They're in good shape, those two…," he grunted.

"Yeah," I agreed. "If I had even _half_ of the energy that they possess…" I trailed off, shaking my head.

"I just want to take a good, long nap," Leorio confessed.

Kurapica seemed to feel the same. "Yes, today has been rather long. How many tests are left, do you think?"

"Ah, I was just wondering that," I replied, startled.

"It changes from year to year," a voice replied. I turned to see Tompa, who just didn't seem to take a hint. "The committee decides it, depending on the difficulty of the trials. Usually there are five to six tests."

"So still three or four more," Leorio predicted.

"Assuming Tompa's being truthful," I whispered.

Kurapica shrugged. "So we'd better use this opportunity to rest."

Tompa chuckled sinisterly. "I wouldn't if I were you," he warned us gleefully. "This ship ride might be part of the next exam. Imagine the trial taking place while you're asleep. You won't be allowed to go on to the next round. Even here you'd better not drop your guard!" He continued to laugh loudly, walking away.

We exchanged a glance.

"He's blowing smoke," I decided, and Leorio and Kurapica both nodded.

"It isn't possible that all three of us would somehow miss the third exam taking place," Kurapica concurred.

"And even if by some dumb coincidence we managed to," Leorio added, "Gon or Killua would wake us up or something."

We wandered around the ship until we found somewhere to bathe and eat. As I washed all the grime off my body, the bandages around my throat came completely undone. To be honest, I had forgotten about them. The wound on my neck—my memento from our fight with the kirikos from so long ago—had completely healed. I smiled, wondering exactly when my life had gotten so interesting.

I met up with Kurapica and Leorio outside, and we shared a meal at the food court. Afterwards, we found an appropriate corner of the ship and settled down to nap. Kurapica had procured blankets from who-knows-where, and I accepted one gratefully. The two boys began to deeply slumber almost immediately, and I stifled a smile. It was kind of cute, seeing them curled up against the wall like that.

I hesitated, wondering if I should attempt to call my mother. It had only been a little over a day since she'd last called, back in the cave, so I didn't think she would be feeling particularly forgiving. Besides, all the yelling would probably wake Kurapica and Leorio.

That being said, I shrugged grabbing my blanket. I plopped down beside Kurapica and snuggled up against the wall.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: The holidays are over and midterms are coming up! And the SATs! Ahhh! D8 Well, here's January's update!

* * *

><p><em>Hope is a waking dream.<em>

XXX

The sound of a crackling loudspeaker woke me immediately. Kurapica was already up, folding his blanket and organizing his belongings, while Leorio sat up from his seated position beside me, looking groggy.

"To all passengers… We are ready to land."

Now fully alert, I quickly folded my blanket and peered out the window. We were quickly approaching what appeared to be a large, smooth pillar.

We landed on top of the flat surface of the tower, and the examinees were led out.

"You are here at the Shrewdness Tower," Netero explained. "This is the location of the third trial. Concerning the trial itself, here are the jury's expectations: within a 72 hour time period, you'll need to get to the bottom of this tower."

He got back on the blimp, and we watched as it began to fly away. "May the trial begin! Good luck!" the loudspeaker blared.

I walked over to the edge and peered over cautiously. "There aren't any windows," I observed.

"So climbing down is out," Leorio said. "Hey, would you be able to do that snappy-thingy of yours and make it down?"

I fidgeted. "I don't think so," I admitted. "It takes quite a bit of my stamina to maintain my nen, and I don't want to suddenly run out in the middle. If the tower were shorter, maybe I'd be able to, but at this point I don't want to risk it."

"Oh, there's a man climbing down!" Kurapica noticed, pointing.

I was astounded. I had no idea even a professional rock climber would be able to scale the wall like that. It wasn't as though there were many grips.

Suddenly, large, monstrous birds came out of nowhere and began to attack the man. "Gyaaa!" he screamed, losing his grip.

Automatically, my arm raised and I snapped my fingers, preparing to jump off the edge. At the last second, I was tackled to the ground and the air was knocked right out of my lungs.

"Kurapi—get off!" I wheezed, struggling to push him off me. "Leorio, make him st—no, no, why are you helping him?"

The two older, stronger boys refused to yield.

"You can't go down!" Kurapica snapped. "Those things will eat you alive!"

"How would you know?" I demanded, slapping one hand against his chest and shoving. Leorio grabbed my arm and forced it back down.

"Use your head!" Leorio blustered. "The moment those birds appeared, that guy was a goner!"

Footsteps echoed next to my ear and I paused in my escape, glancing up at the forms of Killua and Gon, who had curiously wandered over to see what the fuss was about.

"Che, you're too late, anyway," Killua commented casually. "The screams have already stopped."

"Kurapica, Leorio, what are you doing?" Gon asked, frowning. "It looks really funny. Are you wrestling?"

Dropping my arms like they were burning him, Leorio backpedaled faster than I believed possible. "We were saving her life, stupid!" he bristled, smoothing out his shirt fretfully.

Suddenly, I realized what a compromising situation I was in. Kurapica was sitting right on top of my stomach, hands on my shoulders. I had one arm propped up against his chest. I flushed, heat shooting into my cheeks. Kurapica also looked as though his head had caught fire, turning an impressive shade of red.

Scrambling to get up, we pushed away from each other immediately. "M-My apologies," Kurapica stammered, resolutely looking everywhere but my face.

I had trouble meeting his eyes. "N-no, it was my fault. Sorry for the trouble."

"Anyways," Leorio said loudly, attempting to dispel the sudden awkwardness, "going down the wall doesn't seem to be an option."

"Yes," Kurapica agreed, looking supremely grateful at the change in topic. "There must be a trap door that leads us inside."

For the first time since our arrival, I glanced around at the examinees, face still enflamed. I blinked. "Eh?"

"What's the problem?" Leorio asked.

"Shhh, I'm counting," I replied, inwardly numbering the people. "There are only 23 people up here."

"What?" Kurapica blurted. "That's only about half the original amount! There must be several hidden doors!"

Beside us, Killua rolled his eyes, nudging Gon. "Yeah, while you slowpokes were busy rolling around on the floor, Gon and I found some."

"More than some—we found _a lot_," Gon insisted, gesturing us over. He pointed them out. "There are five over here."

"Five doors, all close to the rest… I don't like this," Leorio expressed, folding his arms.

"Some might be traps," Kurapica remarked.

"Yeah, and it seems like each trap door only works once," Gon added.

That caught my attention. "How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"By chance, we saw somebody using a trap door at another place," Killua explained. "We weren't able to do the same because it was blocked. Gon and I have decided to each pass through one of these five doors."

"Even if it's a trap, no regrets," Gon said firmly. "What are the rest of you going to do?"

"It's fine for me, too," Leorio replied positively, and Kurapica and I nodded. "I was told luck is also a major factor in the exams."

"So who chooses first?" Kurapica asked.

Frenzied rounds of rock-paper-scissors followed, and soon we each stood by our respective doors.

"We'll go on the count of three," Kurapica instructed.

"So I guess this is goodbye for now," I said.

Leorio shrugged, giving a thumbs-up. "We'll definitely all meet again on the ground!"

"One, two, three!" we counted together, and jumped.

I landed on the floor neatly, hearing four identical thumps beside me. Incredulously, I stared at the faces of my four companions. It seemed we had all landed in the same room. Sheepishly, we laughed.

"What a short farewell," Kurapica murmured. He inadvertently caught my eye and reddened, quickly turning away.

"Well, yes," I agreed, still feeling somewhat awkward but doing my best to ignore the feeling, "but there doesn't appear to be an exit."

We looked around, and spotted a small pillar with five watches. There was a small sign above it.

Majority Ruling

For the five candidates: you'll have to reach your goal by following the majority's choice.

"I suppose we should put them on?" I suggested, picking one up and snapping it over my wrist. The boys followed suit.

A speaker on the side of the wall crackled. "All right! This tower contains numerous passages. Each one contains its own crossways. You can only move by following the majority's choice. It is impossible to move by the will of a single person. On that note, just fight well!"

At these words, a wall slid upwards to reveal a door. On the door read a sign: O Open. X Close.

"What a strange question," Leorio muttered, pressing the corresponding button on his watch.

We all pressed O and moved forward.

Almost immediately, there was another choice: O Right. X Left.

I grumbled, pressing the O button again. "How time-consuming."

When the results showed on the small black screen, Leorio began to object. "What? Usually, when presented with two paths, we choose the left, don't we? I don't feel comfortable going to the right!"

Kurapica shook his head at Leorio's simplistic logic. "According some behavioral studies," Kurapica explained, "it seems that when people are lost, they subconsciously choose to travel along the left path."

"Yeah, I've heard the same thing," Killua agreed.

"Wait," Leorio protested, "what you're telling me is the exact opposite of our results. What way did you choose?"

"Right!" Killua and Kurapica both said.

"Instinctively, we choose the left side," I said, "so there's a higher probability of the left side having a higher level of difficulty."

"Exactly!" Kurapica nodded.

Leorio began to mutter to himself crossly, though he was the first to begin walking to the passage. At the end of the corridor was a large, empty room with a platform in the center. There was no pathway to it—only an unending pit surrounding it on all sides.

"Look," Killua indicated, pointing to the other end of the room. There were five masked people in chains, waiting for us.

Even as we watched, the shackles of one clicked open and clanked against the floor. "At last I'm free!" the unfettered man exclaimed. "We are the jurors for the trial commission! Our mission is to fight against you. The matches are one-on-one fights, and each person can only fight once. Who goes first is up to you. You'll have to reach three victories if you want to go on!"

We stared at each other. One-on-one matches?

"The rules are extremely simple," the man continued. "Inside the ring, anything is allowed! There's no limit. You win as long as your opponent admits defeat! Do you accept this trial or not? O Yes. X No!"

"What?" Leorio asked. "Another obvious choice!"

Unanimously, we chose to go on.

"Alright," the man shouted. "I'm the first to go—choose who will face me!"

"Hm, I'll go," I volunteered.

"Are you crazy?" Leorio asked. "He'll crush you!"

"I have a lot of pent-up frustration," I retorted. "Besides, I want to see how they'll fight."

Kurapica folded his arms. "I seem to remember you having very little physical strength," he pointed out. "And if you get cut even a little bit, you just might bleed to death."

"Ah, that's right!" Leorio exclaimed, nodding frantically. "You're a hemophiliac. That settles it—you aren't going!"

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, I'm the best person for this—I have good defense, remember?"

Before either boy could argue back, a thin pathway emerged from our side of the wall to the platform. I frowned at the narrowness of the trail, but made my way towards the center as my opponent did the same.

When we had both met at the center, he spoke. "For the fight itself," he said, "I propose a fight to the death!"

"Absolutely not," I replied immediately, not even bothering to think. "I don't feel like killing you."

He frowned, seeming irritated that I believed I could kill him. To be honest, I wasn't sure I could. "Well, how about this—a fight to the death _or_ until one of us gives up."

I tilted my head to the side, considering his offer. "And anything goes?"

"Anything inside this platform is allowed," he agreed.

"Alright," I consented. "I accept."

He laughed sinisterly, shifting into a fighting stance. "Let's go!" he roared, rushing towards me.

"Whoa," I yelped, throwing myself out of the way. I did several backflips in a row, and he pursued me to the very edge of the platform.

"Take this!" he shouted, throwing a fist at me.

To dodge, I skidded backward, stepping right off the edge of the platform.

"HAAAAaaaaah?" the man asked, clearly bewildered. He probably expected me to fall to my death or something.

"Phew, that was close," I said. "You're faster than you look."

From the side of the room, the loudspeaker crackled to life. "Though that was an impressive display of skills, I must regretfully disqualify you."

There was a brief silence as everyone digested these words.

"…What?" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "Why?"

"Yeah, I don't mind her abilities," my opponent added hastily, crossing his arms.

"These people even said so!" I protested to the loudspeaker. "Anything is allowed!"

"They said 'inside this platform' anything is allowed," the voice corrected. "You are clearly outside of the ring. You're disqualified."

I glanced back helplessly at the boys waiting on the other end of the room. "Did they really say that?" I asked.

Leorio looked as outraged as I was. "I can't remember!" he bellowed. "But there was no rule against it! You can't just make up things like that!"

"We're the jurors," the voice from the loudspeaker justified. "We're only upholding the rules that were set."

"We can make exceptions!" my opponent defended me again, and I was beginning to get suspicious. Was he looking forward to a fight that badly or was it something more?

"Are you arguing with me?" the voice asked amusedly, and the man immediately backtracked.

"O-Of course not, sir," he mumbled.

I glared at him for being intimidated so easily. "I refuse to accept this!"

After a few more minutes of pointless arguing, Kurapica finally stopped me. "Arella, just come back—this is just a waste our time. It's fine as long as we win three matches."

I huffed angrily, snapping my fingers and stalking back to the group without waiting for the narrow pathway to appear.

As I approached the group, I saw that Killua and Gon were struck speechless, eyes bugging out as they watched me walk on thin air. They had missed my earlier explanations on nen during the first and second exams, and thus hadn't realized that I had a special ability at all.

"Wow!" Gon exclaimed, and walked right off the edge of the floor. Instead of floating like me, he began to plummet.

I shrieked, snapping my fingers furiously. In seconds, Gon was so incased by my air that he was probably having trouble breathing.

"Gon!" everyone shouted, resorting to anger now that he was out of immediate danger.

"Why on Earth did you do that?" Leorio spluttered, pointing a shaking finger. "Jeez, you trying to shorten my life or something, brat?"

"Why didn't I float?" Gon pouted, having only fallen a couple feet. "Arella's floating! I wanted to do it, too!"

"You… Don't _do_ that," I gasped, hand on my heart. "This is my nen ability. _My_ nen ability. Meaning you can't do it."

I helped Gon back up to the floor, shaking my head.

"Nen?" Killua asked curiously. "What's that?"

"I'll teach you later," I said dismissively. "Concentrate on making it through the exams, first."

He scowled, scuffing the floor with his shoe. "I'll hold you to that," he sulked.

"Right, that's enough," Kurapica said suddenly, staring intently at the men across the room. They had been having a whispered conversation, and as I couldn't hear, I hadn't paid attention. "I heard what they were saying over there—those people are actually convicted criminals. All they want to do is slow us down as much as possible, because for every hour they do, one year will be deducted from their sentences."

"You…could hear what they were saying?" I asked, astounded. Man, I _really_ needed to brush up on my basic skills. From the looks of it, though, I wasn't the only one who hadn't been able to hear the conversation, which made me feel slightly better.

"If the only thing they want is to make us lose time," Killua said thoughtfully to me, "then it was a good thing your fight ended so quickly. That bald guy was probably an ex-soldier or something like that. He would have fought by hitting you so that you wouldn't be able to say that you quit. He probably would have slowly tortured you without killing you until the end of our time."

I paled, feeling slightly alarmed that Killua had been able to say all that without so much as batting an eyelash. "Wow, it's no wonder that my opponent was arguing with the loudspeaker dude," I remarked nervously, "if they wanted a long match. I don't feel quite as bad for losing, now."

"No, you should still feel bad about that," Killua replied bluntly. "I could've killed him easily."

I twitched. "Brat," I scowled, pulling him into a headlock. "Keep that up and I won't teach you nen."

"Argh, I got it—I _got_ it," he griped, effortlessly escaping from my grip. "More importantly, who's going next?"

"Me!" Gon declared, waving his hand high in the air. "Let's finish quickly so that Arella can teach us how to fly!"

"I'm not going to teach you how to fly," I complained, but was ignored.

"Are you sure you want to go next?" Killua asked. "Shouldn't you be even more scared?"

"It's okay," Gon replied earnestly. "The next one doesn't seem that mean."

Kurapica sighed at the naïve answer. "Well, he's still a child…," he muttered.

Killua glanced over the criminal on the other end. "Yeah, don't worry—he's not a tough one," Killua claimed dismissively. "Go for it."

Gon nodded and dashed over to the platform in the center, greeting the criminal eagerly.

Let the match begin.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: February's update is up! (: School is going slowly right now, but it's winding up again.

* * *

><p><em>Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.<em>

XXX

I peered over at our enemy myself. He looked rather frail, actually, the small kind of kid who'd probably gotten bullied in his earlier years. I wondered what he had done to get him thrown into life imprisonment.

"As you can see," he said, "I'm not a fighter. Hitting, running, jumping—that kind of stuff isn't my thing."

Now I was _really_ curious as to what he sort of crime he'd committed. He was probably as weak offensively as I was, and most likely didn't have a nen ability. How on Earth had he defended himself all these years? Life as a criminal couldn't possibly have been _safe_, of all things.

"I prefer the opposite," Gon replied sheepishly. "I'm not really gifted with thought games."

"I thought so," Gon's opponent said, "so I prepared an extremely simple game." He pulled two candles from behind his back. "Both of us will light a candle at the same time. The one whose light goes out first loses. So?"

I figured there was a trick to this game—there was no way that these criminals (all of whom had been accused of heinous crimes) would be nice enough to play a game of luck and chance. Since they wanted to win as much as we did, there was sure to be a catch.

"Yeah, that's easy!" Gon said in a relieved tone, obviously choosing to believe that his opponent was being entire virtuous. "That's okay for me!"

"Okay," the criminal replied, holding out the two candles in plain sight. It was immediately obvious that one was much larger than the other. "Which candle will you choose? O if you want the long one, X for the short one. Choose using the majority!"

"The long one is trapped for sure!" Leorio exclaimed.

Kurapica seemed more cautious. "Yes, it would be logical to think this," he said slowly, "but precisely because of this, it wouldn't be surprising if the short one is the trap."

"Well, in that case…," I started, suddenly worried for Gon's victory.

"Yes, we can't possibly guess which candle has been tampered with," Kurapica finished. "Neither of the choices is obviously right or wrong."

In the center of the room, the criminal took a seat. "Don't rush with your decision," he advised us. "It's a majority verdict so don't hesitate to consult others. We have all the time we need!"

"Man, he's just trying to waste our time!" Leorio growled, tapping his foot impatiently. "Which should we choose?"

"I don't know," I replied agitatedly, wringing my hands together. "It's all about luck at this point."

Kurapica, though, seemed to have an idea. Who was I kidding? It was Kurapica—he _always_ had an idea. "Gon!" he called. "You decide. We'll go by your decision. Instead of torturing our minds, we'll trust your instinct."

I was pleasantly receptive to the idea, though it was not the master plan I'd hoped for. It was true that no matter how long we all spent rotting our brains over this conundrum, we would never be able to guess for sure which candle was the right one. Choosing right this second was no different from choosing seventy hours from now. That being said, it was important for us to reach a decision quickly, as we didn't want to waste our time here. For this reason, it was best simply to let a single person decide, rather than have several people argue over the possibilities. And who better than Gon? He seemed to be part dog anyway—maybe his intuition would prove to be advantageous in this scenario.

"I decide? Alright!" Gon said, making up his mind spontaneously. "I choose the long one!"

We were surprised at the quick choice. _Does he know something that we don't?_ I wondered. _Can he tell the difference in the compositions of the two candles?_

"The long one?" the criminal asked. "Are you quite sure?"

"Yup!" Gon said cheerfully. "It's bigger, so of course it will take more time to burn!"

There was a slight pause as everyone in the room digested Gon's response.

…_He wasn't even thinking about the possibility of it being a trap!_ I bemoaned in my mind, nevertheless pressing the O button on my watch.

"Ah, whichever is fine," Kurapica said firmly, as though trying to convince himself of this.

"Yeah, it's impossible to know which is which, anyway," Leorio sighed.

"Okay," Gon's opponent said, tossing Gon the longer candle. "The long one is for you, and the short one is for me!" He moved towards the edge of the platform, stepping near the torches that lit the room. "Let's light our candles at the same time," he proposed.

Both boys thrust their candles into the fires. "May the fight begin!" they exclaimed.

As time slowly passed, Gon stood motionlessly at his end of the platform, seeming very concentrated on his candle. He seemed to be afraid that the flame might suddenly disappear. Given that his opponent was a criminal, I wouldn't put it past his ability to rig the candle in such a manner, or at least manufacture his own candle in such a way that it would never blow out.

Not even five minutes into the match, the silence was broken. "How long is this going to take?" Killua asked, already looking bored with the 'battle.'

"_Forever_," I emphasized, latching onto Killua with a pitiful expression on my face, and Kurapica rolled his eyes at my antics.

"5 or 6 hours, probably," Kurapica estimated, amused.

"That's like a whole night's worth of sleep," I reminded. "We're just going to sit here the whole time, waiting for someone's candle to go out?" Speaking of sleep, I felt like taking a nap, myself, but for some reason I really didn't want to miss Kurapica's battle. I had a feeling it would be worth the wait.

"Well, there's a strong wind blowing below," Leorio pointed out. "If either one of those two makes a bad move, or even moves at all, his candle might go out on its own."

Almost as if to contradict these words, Gon's candle suddenly burst into bright flames, engulfing the upper half of the wax. It erupted fervently, melting Gon's candle at a distressingly visible rate.

"Look at Gon's candle!" Leorio exclaimed. "It's burning much faster than before! There must be something inside the wax!"

I bit my lip, seeing that Gon's candle was becoming smaller by the second. "It became that short so quickly," I muttered anxiously, scrutinizing the candle from a distance. "At this rate, it'll be gone within two or three minutes."

"Damn, the long one must have been the trap!" Leorio groaned, throwing his hands in the air.

However, Gon didn't seem to look as worried as we felt. Instead, he grinned widely and set his candle down on the floor. "If it burns that well," he assumed aloud, "there's no way it would go out even with the breeze."

Using swift motions, Gon dashed across the platform in the blink of an eye, even before the man on the other end had time to react. With one breath, he blew out his opponent's candle. "I won!" Gon declared happily, oblivious to the surprised expression on his opponent's face.

"Ah, I guess you did," he admitted, shrugging once his shock ran out.

"Well, that didn't take long," I said appreciatively, as the score on the board ticked off a point in our favor.

"Good job, Gon!" Leorio cheered. "We now have one victory! And as we can surely count on my victory and Kurapica's we'll definitely pass!"

Kurapica gave a small smile. "Well, my turn," he stated, stepping forward. He glanced across the room to see who his opponent would be.

I grimaced at the appearance of the criminal. He looked like something out of a horror movie—maybe comparable to Frankenstein. The top of his head was completely bald, and scars stretched out from all over his head. One eye was swollen shut, and he appeared to be missing several teeth. One of his ears was missing, and the other was torn to shreds. On his chest were nineteen tattooed hearts. When he flexed, his entire body bulged dangerously.

"Man, what's with this guy?" Leorio remarked, looking ill.

"I've already killed nineteen people," the criminal claimed, pointing at the hearts on his chest. "That was annoying because it's not an even number, so I'm happy!"

I bristled at the insinuation. As though that dumb muscle-man could kill Kurapica. Hah!

"For me," the man continued, "the only things that excite me are fights we risk our lives in. I don't like doing things by halves. I need blood! Ripped bodies! Pain!"

Kurapica merely stared calmly as he walked to the center platform. "That's fine with me," he said bluntly, surprising the criminal. "Could we get on with deciding the fight's rules?"

"Ah, yeah," the criminal answered, clearly bewildered at Kurapica's complete lack of fear. "Here's what I suggest—a fight to the death! We'll fight until one of us admits defeat or dies." He cracked his neck menacingly. "But…even if you fall unconscious during the fight, I can't guarantee that I'll stop hitting!"

"Okay, that's fine," Kurapica agreed amicably, completely ignoring his opponent's malice. "Shall we start?"

"Wait, I forgot something!" the criminal said suddenly, holding up a hand. He seemed nervous, now that he realized Kurapica was not intimidated at all. "We can't use weapons. Hand-to-hand combat only. Even if I'm a member of the jury, I'm still a prisoner, so I'm not allowed to use weapons."

I rolled my eyes. It seemed this guy actually thought he could beat Kurapica as long as he didn't use any weapons. I'd never seen Kurapica in a battle before, but I was sure that as a blacklist hunter applicant Kurapica must know at least _some_ martial arts.

"I see," Kurapica murmured, bringing out his hidden twin swords and readily tossing them aside. "Anything else?" Kurapica asked. "If not, I'd like to start now."

Beside me, Leorio scratched his chin. "How do you think it'll turn out?" Leorio asked. "I don't trust his opponent."

"I don't trust _any_ of our opponents, but I trust Kurapica," I said, shrugging. "I'm guessing it'll be an easy victory," I predicted. "Look at all those head wounds. Any decent fighter would know to avoid head wounds."

"I'm not so sure those _are_ head wounds," Leorio muttered. "They look more like scars from a poorly-done surgery…"

I blinked, wondering what the criminal had gone through surgery for.

"Well, in my opinion, we don't have to worry," Killua said.

"Yeah, I don't feel nervous at all when I look at him," Gon added. "It doesn't seem as though he'll be a tough opponent."

Just as Gon finished speaking, the criminal lunged forward, his fist raised. "HIYAAAA!" he roared, swinging downwards and smashing easily through the ground as Kurapica dodged. I cringed, imagining what would have happened had Kurapica been slightly slower. Then, we got our first clear view of the criminal's back.

"A tattoo of a spider with twelve legs!" Leorio described, making the connection immediately. "Could it be…?"

"The sign of the Phantom Brigade," I murmured. _No way—this criminal is part of that elite group?_ I wondered. _Maybe the Phantom Brigade is a bigger group than I assumed, with a hierarchy of strong fighters to weaker ones like this one._

"Really?" Gon asked. Since he'd spent most of the earlier exams with Killua, he'd even missed Kurapica's explanation.

"Yeah," Leorio confirmed. "There's no mistake—we heard the story from Kurapica."

To be honest, I was beginning to get a little concerned. Even if the criminal was weak, the fact that he was a member of the elusive group that had murdered Kurapica's clan was sure to shake Kurapica up immensely. I could relate, as I felt undeniable loathing emerge whenever I was near Hisoka. I didn't know how Kurapica would adapt to this new information. He had his back to us, and didn't seem to be reacting at all. He was standing very still, head bowed.

"Well? You're pretty quiet now; are you scared?" the criminal taunted—which was a stupid move on his part. If I were him, I wouldn't be mocking Kurapica any time soon, especially since he was letting such an insane killer intent. "I'm Majitani, one of the four strongest people in the Brigade. My first attack was just a warm-up. If you want to give up, you should say it now. Because right now, I'm still…" He trailed off as though just realizing the intense pressure in the room. He stared, frozen in shock at Kurapica.

In a split second, Kurapica was across the platform and before Majitani, grabbing the criminal's face and readying his other fist for a punch. Majitani attempted to retreat. "I understand!" he squawked. "St-stop, I give u—" His face was slammed into the floor by the force of Kurapica's blow.

"I'll give you three pieces of advice," Kurapica said flatly. "One, on the real tattoo, the member's number is written in the center of the spider. Two, they've already killed so many people that it would be impossible to count the number." Kurapica raised his head, and I sucked in my breath at the color of his eyes. They were a dark, angry red, beautiful and devastating all at once. Suddenly, I felt like I could understand why the eyes of the Kuruta Clan would be so highly sought after, and it sickened me. To slaughter a whole clan of people for beauty—it was the worst form of vanity. "Three, don't ever speak the name of the Brigade, or I'll kill you."

As the criminal lay unmoving on the floor, Kurapica made his way back to us.

"Um, are you okay, Kurapica?" Leorio asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'm uninjured," Kurapica replied, casually brushing his hands against his clothing.

Leorio winced. "No, what I mean is, is it safe for us to come near you?"

Though I couldn't help but laugh nervously, I jabbed Leorio in the gut as he attempted to discern whether or not Kurapica's eyes were back to normal. Honestly, Leorio was so tactless it was kind of funny.

"…I knew from the beginning," Kurapica sighed, closing his eyes wearily, "that my opponent was merely bluffing. I also knew that his tattoo was a fake, but after seeing that spider…everything went red." He looked self-conscious at having such an extreme reaction, but I could hardly blame him. I surely would've done the same, had I been in his shoes. "In fact…this happens whenever I see a spider. I lose my mind and become unrecognizable." Okay, _that_ was a little too much. It's not like I'd attack a random clown or magician on the side of the street, or something, just because of a resemblance. "This just goes to show that my hatred hasn't gone away, so I should be rather happy, but…" Kurapica sat down heavily, an aura of doom and gloom surrounding him.

"…We're going to avoid showing Kurapica spiders, aren't we?" Gon whispered to us, inching away from the depressed Kuruta.

"Yup!" Leorio agreed.

I patted Kurapica on the shoulder consolingly. "If it makes you feel any better," I said, "I think spiders are icky, too."

Kurapica coughed, embarrassed. "No, it's not like I find them particularly…_icky_," he protested, but was cut off by Leorio.

"I'm going to end it!" he roared, stepping forward dramatically. "Hurry up and pick somebody!" he called to the criminals on the other end. "I'm waiting for the next prisoner!"

Someone on the other end giggled sinisterly. "That's not possible," a distinctly feminine voice claimed, "because the match hasn't ended yet."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: March is a really busy month, considering all the IB testing/SATs/SATIIs/competitions/summer program applications that I'm killing myself with. Urgh. I don't even know if I'll be able to churn out April's chapter. So if I'm late, sorry in advance! Thank you to all my readers and reviewers! (:

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><p><em>Artificial intelligence stands no chance against natural stupidity.<em>

XXX

"What?" Leorio asked in confusion, and the four of us beside him made noises of agreement. "How can the match not be over yet?"

The female prisoner slowly trotted over to Majitani, who still lay motionlessly. She made a show of checking his pulse. "He has only fainted," she explained. "You chose a death match! The combat should have lasted until one of the two opponents died or quit. This man is clearly still alive, and yet I never heard him say that he forfeited."

"Oh, come on!" I complained. "He was half saying it anyway. He was barely missing a syllable. Besides, it's clear who the victor is!"

The criminal shrugged, not replying.

I frowned. This was obviously some ploy to put us at a disadvantage. But what could be gained from this? All Kurapica had to do was finish the match. There had to be something. They wouldn't be doing this for no reason.

"Ah, whatever," Leorio said to Kurapica. "Just get over there and end it."

"No," said Kurapica.

There was a short pause as Leorio processed Kurapica's response. "What?" he yelped.

"For me, the match is already over," Kurapica explained. "I hit my adversary as he renounced the battle. I cannot continue to fight an unconscious man."

"You're joking!" Leorio exclaimed. "In that case, what do you want to do?"

"It depends," Kurapica replied, "on whether or not Majitani wakes. When he regains, we'll talk about it again, but don't count on me to kill him while he cannot fight back."

Leorio gaped, at a loss for words.

"If you want, I can kill him for you," Killua offered casually, hands in his pockets. "You've never killed anybody, have you? Are you scared?"

Kurapica regarded Killua in silence. "…I never considered whether or not killing somebody would scare me. Moreover, it's a fight between him and me. I don't need your assistance."

Killua gave Kurapica a flat stare. "I see," he said. "Let me remind you that you aren't alone here! Now's not the time to act selfishly!"

"That's right!" Leorio agreed quickly. "Even though I kind of agree with your philosophy, save it for later! Think of others a little!"

"Sorry, but I don't want to change my views," Kurapica insisted.

"Besides," I added, "it's not like Killua would be allowed to interfere in Kurapica's match, anyway. Only Kurapica can finish the match." But I still couldn't shake my uneasiness. Surely, the prisoners could not have been able to predict Kurapica's viewpoint on killing, could they? But even if they had, what could be gained? Time? I was sure it wouldn't take that long for Kurapica's opponent to wake up. It wasn't liked he'd suffered through a traumatic accident or anything. We just had to wait for him to wake up. To wake up…?

"Well, in that case—let's use the majority vote!" Leorio suggested, and I shrugged. This wasn't going to work, and overthinking myself to death wasn't going to help any. "O for Kurapica to hurry up and kill the guy, X for Kurapica to not! One, two, and…!"

True to my expectations, the screen didn't light up, no matter how many times Leorio pushed the button on his watch.

"Why didn't it light up?" he hollered.

"I don't think we're allowed to use the board on our own," Gon said sheepishly.

"Okay, I got it. Let's vote by a show of hands. Those who want Kurapica to kill the criminal, raise your hand!" Leorio lifted his own hand high, and was shocked to see no one followed. "Traitor!" he yelled at Killua, the only one who had seemed to agree.

"It's useless," Killua said, shrugging. "He said he wouldn't change his mind."

"Yeah," Gon agreed. "His opponent was about to admit his defeat anyway. We just have to wait until he wakes up."

"…And if he never wakes up?" I finally spoke, drawing the attention of the fighting boys. Immediately, all of them hushed, eyes wide. I'd finally been able to realize what my troubled subconscious had been trying to tell me.

"What do you mean?" Gon asked. "No one can sleep forever."

"That's what I thought at first, too, but I just thought of something. If I were that guy, I might just lie there forever. Their purpose isn't victory—it's to keep us here as long as possible," I pointed out. "Even if that guy were to wake up, he might 'sleep' until our time is up." No matter which way I looked at it, I didn't want to trust a criminal. They were obviously using this situation to their own advantage.

"Ah, maybe he's even…already dead," Killua suggested, and I started. I hadn't even thought of that possibility. It was true that we hadn't been able to confirm his physical state for ourselves.

Leorio peered over intently, and I was instantly relieved. Leorio was training to be a doctor—he would surely be able to know. "Man, with the lack of light here, it's hard to tell," he admitted. He addressed the criminals on the other side. "We'd like to go and see if he's still alive. How can we believe that he might suddenly wake up? He might already be dead!"

"I just told you, he's only unconscious," the female prisoner stated, sounding irritated that they'd been found out so quickly.

"We can't trust the words of criminals!" Leorio yelled.

"…Well, in that case, would you like to bet?" the criminal asked slyly. "Is he dead or is he alive? Let's bet on it."

"A bet?" I repeated, confused.

"What are we betting on?" Leorio asked. "We don't have anything."

The female laughed. "Time! We'll bet, and the winner will receive time. Take a look at that black screen over there." We looked to where she was pointing and saw the number 50 lit up on the screen. "We can bet up to 50 hours. The minimum bet is 10 hours. The game will be over when one of the gamers is at zero hours. We'll take turns betting. If you lose, the time you have to exit the tower will be reduced by 50 hours. And if _I_ lose, my sentence will be increased by fifty years. If you accept the game, I'll let you check to see if he's still alive or not."

"It's a girl's voice," Leorio muttered. "She's insane—ready to bet her prison sentence."

"Don't trust her, Leorio," Kurapica warned. "If we lose, we'll only have twelve hours to exit the tower.

"You're the one saying this?" Leorio growled. "We're only doing this because you didn't want to give the final blow!"

Kurapica pressed his lips together. "I understand," he said. "I won't say anything more." He looked almost like he was sulking—which was awfully cute of him—and I had to stifle my laughter.

"Still, he's right," I protested. "If she's betting on her sentence, she must be extremely confident. Forget about the bet; it's too risky. I'll go check myself." I prepared to walk off the platform, snapping my fingers.

"No, It's better if I go," Leorio asserted. "Even if you can see whether or not he's alive, you won't be able to tell whether or not he's really unconscious. If he really is alive, nothing will change even if you go over there. We'll just be waiting for him to wake up, same as before."

"Ah, that's true," I murmured dejectedly. "…So can't I just—"

"I accept the challenge!" Leorio called to the other side.

"—bring you with me?" I sighed, as Leorio hadn't seemed to be listening to me at all.

"As I decided the terms of the bet, I'll let you choose the stake in hours," the criminal said.

Leorio thought for a moment. "I bet 10 hours he's alive," Leorio said.

"You're prudent," Kurapica said approvingly.

"This is common sense, isn't it?" Leorio replied, crossing his arms. Truthfully, I thought Leorio could have bet higher and still be safe.

The criminals had a whispered conversation on the other end. I couldn't hear, so I glanced at Kurapica to see if he had. He didn't say anything, though, so either he hadn't been able to hear, or it simply wasn't anything important. "Alright, we'll let you go across and check," the female criminal said.

The bridge extended, and Leorio quickly strode across. He knelt before Majitani and rolled him over, checking his pulse.

"You see?" the female criminal asked, sounding bored. "He's only fainted."

The numbers on the screen changed to 40 and 60, in our favor.

"Yay, Leorio has taken the lead!" Gon cheered.

As Gon and Killua spoke with each other, I sat down beside Kurapica. "I don't understand your views on killing," I declared, and Kurapica turned curiously. "I thought you wanted to be a blacklist hunter."

Kurapica turned away, and for a second I thought he wouldn't answer. "…I don't really want to be a blacklist hunter," he admitted. "It's not like I'm after all the criminals in the world. I just want to avenge my clan."

"And you think you can do that without killing anyone?" I asked directly, referring to his refusal to kill Majitani.

Kurapica sucked in a breath. "The Phantom Brigade is composed of horrible murderers of the worst kind," Kurapica said, passionate with anger. "I will kill when I confront the Phantom Brigade, but not before then."

"That will put you at a severe disadvantage," I pointed out, steadfastly not looking at his eyes. I didn't want to see whether or not his eyes had turned crimson. If I could help it, I didn't want to see his eyes as anything other than their regular blue.

"How so?" Kurapica asked. To my relief, he didn't sound particularly angry.

"Well, from what I can tell, the members of the Brigade don't seem to have any morals," I explained. "If you've got all of yours, then you won't be able to confront them on even ground."

Kurapica was silent for a long while.

Meanwhile, the scoreboard changed to 80-20, in the criminals' favor. "Eh? What just happened?" I asked, flabbergasted that I had missed something so drastic.

"Geez, weren't you paying attention?" Killua complained. "Leorio managed to wake that dumb brute up over there, so even though we lost forty hours, we got Kurapica's victory."

"Oh," I said in surprise. Why on earth had Leorio bet _forty_ hours, when he had been so careful before? "Well, I guess that's good. If Leorio wins, we'll be able to move on." I began to pay more attention to the match.

The criminal lifted her hood, revealing herself. "Let's bet on my gender—male or female?" she proposed. I frowned. She was obviously female. What was the point of this bet?

"…I'm okay with this," Leorio agreed, "but if I guess wrong, how will you prove it to me?"

"With my body, of course," the criminal replied, smirking. "You'll be free to check me wherever you'd like to obtain your proof." I gaped at her indecent words, flushing as the boys beside me shook their heads.

"That Leorio, he's going to choose male," Kurapica sighed, and Killua agreed.

Gon, however, looked clueless. "What?" he asked, blinking.

"Oh, come on," I said nervously. "Let's have a little faith. If he bets all of our hours that she's female, we'd be able to turn the tides a little." I stared intently at Leorio's back, willing him to do the right thing.

"Alright, I bet ten hours you're a male!" Leorio declared.

Kurapica shrugged. "There we go."

"Leorio!" I growled. He'd just wasted ten hours simply for his own satisfaction! Hadn't he lectured Kurapica for acting selfishly just a little while ago?

"Such a pervert," Killua grumbled.

"How did you know?" Gon asked, pouting at being left out.

Killua gave Gon a short explanation on how the minds of perverts worked, and I was a little concerned that Killua, who was the same age as Gon, knew of such things.

"Ah, I understand!" Gon said, nodding his head.

"Do you really?" I asked, dubious, but let it slide. I turned my attention back to the platform in the center of the room.

"_Soooorry_, but I'm a female," the criminal simpered. It seemed she'd already known what Leorio would say.

"S-seriously?" Leorio gasped in fake surprise.

"You wanna check?" his opponent asked, folding her arms and glancing at her nails.

Leorio smiled widely. "For sure!"

I groaned, burying my head in my hands. _Honestly, doesn't that guy have any sense of shame?_ I wondered. "We're going to lose," I grumbled. "This was a terrible match-up. Kurapica should have faced this woman instead."

"What do you mean?" Gon asked.

"Leorio doesn't take big risks," I explained. "He takes a lot of small ones. In this case, he should've gone big from the beginning, when he was betting on things that he was sure of. Like whether Majitani was dead or alive, whether or not he was unconscious. He decided to give up forty hours in exchange for Kurapica's victory, which I'm okay with, even though it was a little excessive. But this time—that criminal was obviously female! If he had bet all of the points he had for female, we wouldn't be in quite this bad shape."

Killua shrugged. "That's true, but now it's Leorio's turn. Maybe he can turn the tides."

We waited intently for Leorio's bet. Maybe he could choose a topic only he knew about, like doctor-stuff. The number of pressure points in the body, for example.

"Whatever, I'll just go with luck!" Leorio bellowed, holding out a fist. "Let's play rock-paper-scissors!"

I coughed pointedly.

"Yeah, we've lost," Killua sighed.

"Maybe Leorio's really good at rock-paper-scissors!" Gon suggested optimistically.

"It's not really something you can be _good_ at, though," I said doubtfully.

"Eh?" Gon looked surprised. "But I'm really good at it."

Killua peered at Gon. "I don't believe you," he said. "How can you be good at a game of luck?"

"It's true!" Gon protested. "I'll show you later."

Meanwhile, Leorio and his opponent were waving their fists. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!" Both of them chose rock, so they had to go again. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!" Leorio chose rock again, but the opponent chose paper.

I slapped my forehead, leaning back against the wall.

"Yay, victory!" the criminal cheered gleefully, making her way back to her side.

Leorio began to trudge over to us.

Suddenly, Kurapica grabbed my sleeve to get my attention. "I'll become strong enough so that I won't have to," Kurapica stated.

"What?" I asked, bewildered, still strung on Leorio's disappointing loss.

"Before, you said that I won't be able to confront the Brigade on fair terms," Kurapica reminded me, referring to our earlier conversation. "So I'll just make it so I won't have to. I'll become strong."

Slowly, my mouth curved into a smile. I could see in his eyes that he truly believed he could become as strong as he wished. Of course, I couldn't sit idly either. "Yeah," I said. "Let's all become strong."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: Here is April's chapter! (: As always, thank you so much to my lovely reviewers! I'd just like to remind you all that should you make an anonymous review, I will not be able to give a reply, should you have any questions.

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><p><em>The only time you ever have too much fuel is when you're on fire.<em>

XXX

Kurapica sighed. "On top of the Leorio's loss, we'll have to pay 50 hours. We've only got around 12 hours left."

"Speaking of which…" I turned on the spot and promptly flicked Leorio in the ear as hard as I could. With the amount of time I spent snapping my fingers, I was certain my fingers were stronger than most other's.

True to my expectations, Leorio yelped, but didn't protest, as he seemed to realize he deserved that.

"Well, guess I'll just have to win quickly," Killua answered in response to Kurapica's statement, shrugging. He took a look at Leorio's horrified expression and scowled. "Why are you making a face like that?"

"Damn, now that I've lost we won't be able to go on!" Leorio cried. "Sorry guys!"

I burst out laughing as Killua glowered. He took an aggressive step forward, but Gon held him back. "Gon, he's seriously starting to irritate me!" Killua complained.

Gon smiled uncertainly as Killua leaned over menacingly. "Yes, but…"

"Man, he's giving up on me even before we've seen my opponent!" Killua grumbled. "Unless he gives me a hard question that needs mental calculations, I should be fine!"

"Ah, that's true—maybe we still have a _small_ chance," Leorio allowed.

Kurapica and I bemoaned Leorio's tactlessness together, shaking our heads in unison.

I glanced at the door as Killua's opponent became visible.

Immediately, Gon gulped, and Leorio recoiled.

"You guys know him?" I asked, surprised. I peered at the man. True, he _did_ seem stronger than the other opponents, but it wasn't like he was a monster or anything. He looked just like an ordinary man, albeit one with…bulging muscles…and a cold stare… I bit my bottom lip. _Okay, maybe he's kind of creepy_, I admitted in my head. _But it's not like he's a nen user or anything_.

"No," Gon replied, shivering. "He just feels scary."

"Killua," Leorio said, eyes wide, "just forget about the victory. No matter what, don't fight against him!"

"So you _do_ know him! Well, out with it!" I demanded.

"That's…Jones the Cutter! The greatest murderer in all of Zaban's history!" Leorio exclaimed. "He rips people apart with his bare hands! He has killed at least 146 people!"

I frowned, taking another glance at Jones, who was flexing his arms and clenching his fingers in anticipation. "…The greatest murderer, huh?" I murmured. _What an oxymoron_, I thought. _Truth be told, I wouldn't want to fight him._

Across the room, Jones placed his hand casually on the wall beside him and crushed it with his fingers. When he opened his fist, only very small particles remained. A perturbed expression crept up my face. "It's been a long time," the criminal said, "since I last touched human flesh."

"You don't have to fight against such a monster," Leorio assured Killua. "After all, this exam takes place yearly—eh?"

Killua was already walking towards the opponent. "How will we fight?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Fight?" Jones questioned as they met in the middle of the platform. "I don't think you understand. This is going to be a one-sided murder. I don't care about the exam or the amnesty. All I want is to touch flesh… Even if you just cry and scream, that will be enough for me."

I bit my lip, rubbing my thumb against my middle finger anxiously. I was perfectly prepared to forfeit Killua's match if it meant preventing his death. However, I was simply too far away to put up a shield with my nen. There was a limit on how far I could push my nen, so there was no way I'd be able to reach Killua. Even the prospect of passing the exam wasn't enough to keep my worry at bay.

However, Killua seemed indifferent to Jones's threats. "Okay," he said pleasantly. "You think dying is better than losing, don't you?"

"Yes," Jones agreed, "and you, you're gonna—"

Before Jones could finish the sentence, Killua was on the other side of the platform, Jones's heart grasped in his hand.

I blinked, mouth open in a small circle. Killua was a lot faster than I'd expected. In fact, he was probably even quicker than me, someone who was about five years older than him. And he hadn't used nen at all. As I watched, Jones's shirt began to stain a dark red. How had Killua done it? How could he be so casual about murder? He was still an eleven-year-old boy, right?

Jones slowly turned, even as he began to die. "G-give it back!" He stumbled towards Killua desperately, eyes fixated on his heart.

Killua sneered and crushed the heart immediately. With a groan, Jones collapsed to the floor, dead. Altogether, the match hadn't lasted a minute. "There, 3 to 2," Killua called to the rest of the criminals. "I suppose we can go now, can't we?"

"Y-yes," one of the criminals we hadn't faced in a match replied. "You've won fairly. Passing through here, you'll arrive at a small room. You have to spend 50 hours in there, for the time you lost in the last match."

"That's fine," Killua said. "But tell me, aren't you a bit frustrated for not having fought? Don't you wanna play with me?"

I could _feel_ the tension in the air as the criminal sweated. "…No," the man responded, breathing heavily.

"Ah, that's too bad," Killua sighed, and made his way back towards us.

Beside me, Leorio was frozen in shock. "He…what the heck was that?"

"Ah, true—you don't know!" Gon exclaimed. "Killua's a Zaoldyeck!"

"What?" Leorio gasped. "That elite assassin's family?"

"Man, even I've heard of them!" I said, eyes wide. No wonder Killua hadn't seemed worried at all. Or Gon, for that matter. _What kind of life has Killua led up until now_? I wondered as Killua reached us.

"Well, shall we go?" he asked, looking entirely too unconcerned.

We entered the waiting-room, and the door locked behind us. "You'll have to spend the next 50 hours in this room. Wait until the door opens," an announcement came. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were many books in the room, as well as a TV. There was even a tea set. There were couches as well, so that we could sleep.

As I glanced around the room, Kurapica spoke. "Killua, what technique did you use just now?"

"Ah, I can't really call it a technique," Killua replied. "I only took his heart out. But…" Killua lifted a hand. As we watched, the nails sharpened into hardened points. "I made a small modification to make it easier."

_That's _so_ freaky!_ I cried in my head, though I couldn't help but be fascinated. That was a neat trick, especially considering that it wasn't nen-based at all.

"Even a murderer stays an amateur, no matter how many people he kills," Killua explained, shrugging. "I'm an ex-professional. Still, my parents are much more skilled than me. If they had been the ones fighting, the wound wouldn't have even bled." I absorbed this information slowly. What frightening parents.

"…Ah, good thing you're on our side!" Leorio said loudly, slapping Killua on the back.

Killua fell over with a thud. "Why, you—!" Killua growled, grabbing a book off the shelf behind him and pitching it towards Leorio. Leorio yelped, throwing himself out of the way. He grabbed another book off the shelf and hurled it at Killua.

"H-hey!" Kurapica protested, cringing at the misuse of the books. "Don't waste your energy!"

As the boys tumbled, I turned to Gon. "Hey, play rock-paper-scissors with me," I challenged, remembering his earlier claim of being good at the game. I wanted to see if it was true.

"Sure!" Gon agreed enthusiastically, holding out his fist.

Thirty games later, I had an astounding record of thirty straight losses. By now, the other boys had settled down to watch me get decimated.

"Unbelievable," Leorio muttered. "Thirty straight wins? With no ties? This is a little impossible, even for Gon!"

"My turn next!" Killua declared, and I elbowed him. He doubled over with a grunt.

"No way—I'm not satisfied losing like this!" I snapped. Then, I turned to Gon. "Again! Rock, paper—"

Killua huffed and shoved me to the side, sending me sprawling off the couch I was sitting on. I leapt up, outraged, as Killua took my seat.

"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Rock! Paper! Scissors!"

Though I was still irritated at being ousted from my seat, I felt smug satisfaction at seeing Killua lose game after game. Instead of going through with my original plan to steal my spot back, I took a seat beside Kurapica, who was captivated by Gon's winning streak. He seemed to be mumbling mathematical calculations under his breath. Suddenly, he pinched his mouth together, a pained expression making its way on his face. Then, he began anew, repeating the same calculations as though he would receive a different answer.

"Don't think about it too much," I told him, patting his shoulder sympathetically. "It might fry your brain."

"There must be a trick," Kurapica decided. He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "It's next to impossible. Gon's nearing fifty straight wins with no ties. There is less than a 0.01 percent chance of this occurring naturally, even considering personal inclinations and nuances."

"You think Gon's capable of deception?" I asked doubtfully, resting my arms on my knees and leaning forward. "Just look at him—is that the face of a cheater?" Together, Kurapica and I watched as Gon happily flailed his fist about, grin splitting across his face.

"Well, no," Kurapica admitted. He sighed, shaking his head. "You're right; I should stop thinking about this."

"You _do_ tend to overthink a lot of things, don't you?" Leorio asked, sidling over to us. He threw an arm around Kurapica's shoulder, but it was immediately tossed off.

Kurapica frowned. "I wouldn't say that," he protested then coughed, attempting to change the subject. "By the way, Leorio, your loss back there—"

Leorio threw his hands up in exasperation, cutting Kurapica off. "I knew you were going to bring it up! I'm sorry, alright? I know I was wrong," Leorio grumbled, folding his arms and leaning backward. He glared challengingly, daring us to contradict him. Kurapica folded his arms, seeming perfectly willing to do so.

"W-well, everything turned out alright in the end, so it's fine," I said hastily, trying to stem the impending argument. "_Anyway_, we should probably use these fifty hours to get some rest. I mean, we might not be able to afterwards."

"…That's true," Kurapica said, reluctantly forgoing the argument, "but somehow I don't feel comfortable lowering my guard in this room." He glanced around and pointed out the unhidden cameras. "We're being constantly monitored."

"I don't think anyone would be able to sneak up on all five of us at once," I pointed out, though I could fully understand Kurapica's hesitancy. I, too, couldn't feel entirely relaxed while stuck in a small, enclosed space, possibly surrounded by enemies.

Leorio shrugged, getting up and stretching his legs. "Eh, it's not like we can stay awake for fifty hours, anyway. It's been a long day, so I'm going to get some sleep now." He ambled over towards a couch on the far end of the room, as far away as possible from the noise that Killua and Gon were making. "Wake me up or something if you get tired. I'll keep watch, if you want." Leorio plopped on the piece of furniture and proceeded to fall asleep.

"It _has_ been a long day," I agreed, pursing my lips in thought. I envied Leorio, who seemed to be entirely unconcerned with his surrounding environment.

"Long _week_," Kurapica corrected. "It's rather difficult to believe it's only been a few days." He glanced at Gon, who was cheerfully nearing his hundredth win. "Well, I suppose it's been easier for some of us."

Just as I turned to glance at the two younger boys, Killua shoved Gon off the couch, causing him to land on the floor with a yelp. "I'm bored!" Killua complained, easily dodging Gon's attempt at revenge. "It's no fun if I keep losing! Honestly, how many games has it been? What kind of monster are you?"

"Maybe you'd win a game if you rested properly," I suggested, crossing my arms. Like Kurapica had said, this week had been tough on all of us. It would be prudent to get rest while we could.

"Hah, I don't need to sleep to win!" Killua snapped, bristling. "Gon, back me up!"

I raised an eyebrow. I was almost completely certain that I'd had a bedtime when I'd been eleven. Right on cue, Gon yawned, though he attempted to stifle it behind his fist. Killua shot a betrayed look at him, and Gon smiled sheepishly.

"Sleeping's boring," Killua objected petulantly, figuring he was on his own at this point. I eyed him critically. Though Gon's Aunt Mito had probably regulated Gon's bedtime, I wasn't sure who would have thought to order Killua to bed. Especially since his family of assassins probably weren't overly concerned with getting a full night's worth of sleep.

I placed my hands on my hips. "Healthy boys need lots of sleep," I lectured, and Killua grumbled.

"I'm not sleepy," he protested. "I should sleep when I feel like sleeping!"

I nudged Kurapica, who seemed rather amused by our bickering. "You say something, too!" I commanded, and he put on his best solemn face.

"Killua," he intoned ominously. "You won't grow tall if you don't sleep. I'm sure you don't wish to remain this height for the rest of your life."

Killua glanced between Kurapica and me, and then back at Gon, who was rubbing his eyes. "Geez, you're such a pair of old geezers," he sulked, picking at the corner of his shirt. He grabbed Gon by the collar and dragged him to a couch. "Fine, we're sleeping early so I can wake up ready to beat you!" Killua notified Gon. Killua stuck his tongue at me and fell backwards with a huff. Gon happily plopped on the other end of the couch, which immediately snapped the other boy back into focus. "What are you doing?" Killua demanded, leaping back to his feet.

Gon glanced up in surprise. "I thought we were sleeping," he replied, bewildered.

I snickered as Killua floundered, seeming at a sudden loss of words. "Not—not _together_," Killua exclaimed in a horrified tone. Kurapica politely covered his mouth with his hand as he struggled not to laugh.

Gon frowned. "But you're the one who brought me over h—"

"That's not the point!" Killua all but squawked.

"There aren't enough couches for all of us to have one, so of course the two smallest people should share," I told Killua. I smiled sinisterly. "Besides, I don't see what you're feeling so uncomfortable about. Until a couple years ago, my brother and I shared a room."

"I bet you didn't sleep in the same _bed_," Killua retorted, resolutely not looking at Gon's confused expression.

"Well, no," I admitted. "But I still don't see what the problem is. The couch should be big enough as long as you both stay on your own half. Don't tell me you're _afraid_!"

Killua scowled at the suggestion and shook his head vehemently to deny it. "…I've just… I've never shared a bed before," he said, sounding kind of…_embarrassed_.

"Think of it as a sleepover," I suggested brightly.

Killua looked floored. "A sleepover…?" He glanced at Gon, who was still sitting up sleepily on his half of the couch. "I've never had one of those, either," Killua mumbled then crawled back on the couch. "…But I guess this is fine."

Inwardly, I was a little concerned. _What kind of child has never had a sleepover?_ I wondered. I glanced at Kurapica to see he was wearing the same troubled expression.

Sweeping my gaze about the room, I observed Leorio sprawled over his couch, already deeply asleep, and Killua and Gon curled up on the same couch. Though I doubted Killua was actually sleeping (since no assassin worth his salt would let his guard down in a room full of people), the sight still allayed some of my worries. I gave a half smile. Although the five of us had only known each other for a week or so, it felt like much longer. It was a crushing feeling to realize we would all be going separate ways after the exam, as though I'd soon be freely relinquishing half my limbs.

I sat down heavily on one of the two remaining free couches, still wide-awake, and after a small amount of hesitation, Kurapica joined me. We sat together in comfortable silence until we heard the other boys' breaths even out. After I decided they were all sleeping, even Killua, I turned to Kurapica.

"So, what are you planning on doing once we finish the exam?" I asked quietly, kicking off my shoes and crossing my legs.

Startled, Kurapica blinked, clearly not expecting this line of questioning. "When we finish…"

"Surely you're aiming to pass this year," I prompted. "So I'd like to know what you'll be doing afterwards, if that's alright. It's just that…well…," I trailed off, hugging my knees against my chest. "I guess it's just a little hard to believe we're all going to be splitting up soon."

Kurapica smiled wryly. "Arella, we're hardly through with the exams. We'll have more time together."

"I…yeah, that's true," I acknowledged, "but I still want to know."

Kurapica closed his eyes and leaned backwards. "I'll most likely get a job," he informed me. "Since I intend to hunt the Spiders, I'll need resources to fall back upon. Probably with someone of large influence. Someone with the means of acquiring scarce information."

"A job, huh?" I muttered, mulling over the idea in my head. "It's almost like you're an adult."

"Yes, well, I'm seventeen now, so I suppose I should act it," Kurapica replied, sounding somewhat amused. "And you?"

"Huh?" I asked. "I'm still sixteen."

"What?" Kurapica sat up and glanced at me, looking confused. "No, I meant, what are you planning on doing once the exams are over?"

I blushed at my misunderstanding. "Oh, well, you know I took the exam for the money, right? I think I'm going to sell my license."

"_What?_" Kurapica yelped loudly, leaping to his feet. Almost immediately, he clapped his hands over his mouth and glanced with trepidation at the sleeping figures of Gon, Killua, and Leorio. When none of the boys so much as twitched, he sank back down on the couch and faced me with wide eyes. "Why would you do that?" he hissed.

I was somewhat perplexed at his disbelief. Hadn't I already discussed my need for money? "Like Leorio said back in the elevator before the first exam, if you sell a hunter license, you'd get enough money for seven lives. I'll admit I don't need _that_ much money, but I do need quite a bit. Hospital treatment doesn't come cheap."

Kurapica seemed to be straining to articulate his thoughts, if the way he was opening and closing his mouth repeatedly was any indication. Open, close. Open, close. "You…should get a job instead," he said finally. "It will take longer, but it will be worth it in the long run. Obtaining a hunter license is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence that you may never be able to repeat."

"I'm not doing it for me," I replied. "My brother needs help more than I need a license."

Kurapica shook his head. "I'm not disputing that. I'm merely pointing out that you could easily get higher profile jobs than most normal people with the acquisition of a hunter license, which would bring you more than enough money anyway. Just having a license could prove to be beneficial in the future." He looked at me imploringly.

"Is…this really that important to you?" I asked, wondering why he was so adamant that I keep my license instead of selling it.

Kurapica sighed. "I just don't feel like anyone who would buy your license would be deserving of it. Since you've worked this much to get it, why don't you use it?"

I laughed. "Hey, now, let's not get carried away. We still have a few more rounds before the end of the exam."

"Surely you're aiming to pass this year," Kurapica quoted jokingly, parroting my words from before.

I cracked a smile, which quickly morphed into a yawn. Stretching, I leaned backwards and sank into the couch. "It's getting pretty late, huh?" I remarked, glancing around the room. There weren't any clocks or even any windows for us to tell time by daylight.

"I would imagine so," Kurapica agreed. He glanced at me with a slightly concerned expression. "You don't have to stay up on my behalf."

"I'll stay up with you so you don't feel lonely," I teased.

"That won't be necessary," Kurapica responded immediately, holding up a hand.

I laughed and muttered under my breath, "Oooh, shut _down_."

"Pardon?"

Humming, I bobbed my head sideways. "Nothing important. Wake me up in three hours and I'll switch with you so you can get sleep," I offered, knowing Kurapica would probably attempt to stay up the whole fifty hours if he could.

Kurapica looked a little startled at my blatant acceptance of his refusal, though we both knew he had been making an attempt at humor. I wondered if I'd made a mistake in deciding to get some sleep, if I'd furthered the distance between him and me. Perhaps he'd actually wanted me to stay up with him so that he could have someone to talk to. But his expression shifted into faint gratitude, and he nodded almost imperceptibly (though that could've just been me and my lack of sleep affecting my vision). "I'll wake you up when I feel tired," Kurapica assured me.

I curled up sideways on the couch and shut my eyes. My last conscious thought was that 'when I feel tired' probably wouldn't translate into three hours (knowing Kurapica, he'd probably deny feelings of tiredness for hours and hours and hours), but as I opened my mouth to complain, sleep overtook me.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

* * *

><p><em>Clichés are clichés because they happen.<em>

XXX

I awoke feeling completely refreshed, which immediately annoyed me. Three hours, indeed. To my surprise, when I twisted my head to seek Kurapica out and berate him _just a teensy bit_, I found him asleep by the wall next to my couch. Killua was awake along with Leorio, though Gon still seemed to be conked out like a light.

Killua acknowledged my awakening with a shrug, and I raised an eyebrow in question. Killua simply shrugged again, looking a little grumpy, but Leorio held up a finger to his lips and began to mouth words. I missed some of them but got the general message. 'Don't wake him—he only just got to sleep a little over an hour ago. Practically stayed up the whole night.' Leorio shook his head in exasperation.

I shared Leorio's sentiments. Hadn't I told Kurapica to wake me? I scowled. Of course his chivalrous nature wouldn't allow him to disquiet someone else's rest to supplement his own—_what_ was I thinking? Still, I supposed that was a small part of Kurapica that I found admirable. His manners surpassed those of every other person I'd met.

Suddenly, as though just remembering something, Killua snapped his head around and met my eyes, lips stretched in the widest smile I'd seen on him. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and nodded towards Kurapica as Leorio turned in curiosity.

I blushed instinctively, not because I knew exactly what Killua was trying to convey, but because I knew it couldn't be anything good. Leorio, however, seemed very encouraged and engaged in an enthusiastic, silent conversation with Killua that seemed to involve a lot of pointing towards me and Kurapica. I buried my head in my hands and resigned myself to a long, torturous wait as the two boys snickered quietly.

It wasn't actually a long wait, as Gon shot up from his couch the very next second. "GOOD MOR—" Panicked, Leorio lunged across the room and slapped his hand over Gon's mouth. He frantically shushed the younger boy, frantically pointing towards Kurapica. Gon's eyes widened in understanding and we all turned towards the sleeping figure with baited breath.

When Kurapica didn't move, we all sighed in relief. I watched with some amusement as Leorio and Killua castigated Gon without speaking.

To break up the oppressive air, I scooted off the bed and plopped down beside Killua. Gesturing with my hands, I held up my fingers and mimicked claws and pointed towards Killua's own hands. Killua raised an eyebrow, but seemed to understand what I was going for, since he held up his hand and hardened his nails, like he'd done the night before.

Riveted, I flipped Killua's hand back and forth as I studied it. It really wasn't nen-based at all. No tricks to it—he'd really only changed the shape of his nails. But how? I frowned, not understanding.

Killua rolled his eyes, but allowed me to poke and prod at his fingers. A few more minutes of this and I quickly became bored. I wanted to at least play a game or something. _Anything_ was better than sitting in this oppressive silence.

I glanced back at Kurapica, realizing we'd have to wait until he woke up to do anything else at all. I pouted. If he'd woken me up like I'd told him to and gotten to sleep earlier…!

The three boys beside me seemed to have realized the same thing, because they were silently occupying themselves. Leorio was leafing through the books on the shelves, and Killua had started his epic rematch of rock-paper-scissors with Gon. Needless to say, Killua was losing. Badly.

About two hours and one thousand losses later, when Killua was about ready to strangle Gon and I was about ready to die of boredom, Kurapica stirred.

"Yay!" Gon cheered, and bounded over to Kurapica's side, throwing his arms around the still groggy teen. "So we can talk now, right?"

"Ah, were you waiting for me to wake up?" Kurapica mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. "I apologize for the inconve—"

"Right, first thing's first," I said, clapping my hands together. I got to my feet and crossed my arms. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Kurapica colored. "Well, that is—I intended to, but you were sleeping so peacefully that I…" He trailed off, looking guilty and properly repentant.

I sighed, finding that I was entirely unable to remain angry with him. "Is four hours of sleep really enough for now?" I asked, deflating.

"Yes," he replied, firmly.

"Well, then," I started, still unconvinced, "I guess that's okay."

"It's not okay!" Killua burst out, leaping to his feet. "If you were going to sleep on the floor, why'd I have to share with Gon?" he demanded.

_Ah, that's why he looked grumpy when I first woke up_, I thought to myself._ Mystery solved_. "Why, you didn't have fun? Good friends should have at least one sleepover together," I said, mostly to spare Kurapica from having to answer, as it was clear that he didn't have one. "Think of it as bonding time."

"…I was asleep; how could I have had fun?" Killua pouted, though his response seemed a little slow. After thinking for a while, however, his previous grin returned, full force.

I was almost afraid to ask. "…What?"

"_We'll have more time together_," Killua mimicked. Both Kurapica and I flushed immediately as Leorio sat up a little straighter. Gon seemed clueless, as usual. Killua smirked, in a _gotcha_ sort of way, nodding towards Kurapica. "Who knew he could be such a smooth-talker, eh?"

Immediately, I opened my mouth to object, without even knowing what I planned on saying. _Smooth-talker?_ "You—don't listen on others' conversations! You were supposed to be sleeping! _You said you were asleep!_"

"Why, was it _private_? Just for the two of you?" he snickered, flouncing away when I swiped at his head.

"Hey, hey, when was _this_?" Leorio asked, smirking. He completely ignored Kurapica's mortified glare.

"When they thought we were sleeping." Shrugging, Killua scoffed. "As if I need sleep." Clasping his hands behind his back, Killua leaned over and batted his eyelashes at Kurapica. "_I'll stay up with you so you don't feel loooonely_," he gushed.

"It wasn't like that!" I denied truthfully, though my voice had gone up much too high for my protests to do me any good. "And I don't sound like that!"

"Oh, it wasn't?" Killua deflated immediately and turned away. "Che, how boring." I blinked in surprise at his abrupt loss of interest. Surely he hadn't given up that easily. True to my expectations, Killua whirled around a second later, sticking out his tongue. "Psych!" he said gleefully. "As if I would say that!" He bounded back towards me—_like a puppy,_ I thought to myself—and tugged on my shirt impatiently. "Planning a June wedding?" he heckled.

"You're getting _married_?" Gon asked in awe, staring at us with wide eyes.

"We're not getting married!" Kurapica and I shouted together.

Leorio and Killua shared a smirk. "Point proven," Leorio snickered.

"You are all being ridiculous," Kurapica said, trying to go for a calm image and failing _miserably_, as the blush was still prominent on his face. "We have only known each other for a week and—"

"What's time got to do with it?" Killua asked unconcernedly. "I've known Gon for even shorter, and I already know I want to be his best friend. I want to stick with him forever."

Gon beamed. "Me too, Killua! Let's have lots of fun adventures together!"

"Right, see? Even Gon thinks so," Killua pointed out triumphantly.

Leorio nodded in a sage-like manner. "If Gon says so, it must be true."

"What Gon is saying and what you are saying are two completely different things!" Kurapica objected in dismay.

I crossed my arms, trying to think of a surefire way to switch topics. I snapped my fingers as the thought occurred to me. "Keep this up and I won't teach any of you how to use nen!" I threatened loudly.

All the conversation in the room stopped.

Gon regarded me with watering eyes. "Y-you won't teach us how to fly?" he asked in a pitifully small voice.

"Ahhh, but we made a deal!" Killua complained. "Tch, guess it can't be helped. So if we stop, you'll teach us, right?" he confirmed. I nodded, and he grinned. "So teach us!"

_That_ stopped me in my tracks. "Erm, you…you don't mean _now_, do you?" I stammered.

"Now!" Gon cheered. "I want to learn how to fly!"

"I'm not going to teach you how to fly," I replied absentmindedly, glancing at my watch. Just a little under thirty hours left. "Look, I can't teach you nen in thirty hours. It took me years."

"So it should only take us a day," Killua reasoned.

"Hey!" I bristled.

Gon was resolute. "Just the basics then?"

"When I said 'nen,' I _was_ referring to the basics," I replied dryly. "I'm not skilled enough to be tutoring anyone in advanced nen techniques."

"Well, it'll kill time," Leorio declared. "I interested in this 'nen,' too."

"I am, as well," Kurapica agreed, teaming up against me with the very people who'd been teaming up against _us_ the minute before. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he smiled sheepishly.

"Let's take a vote," Leorio interjected hastily, before I could object. "All in favor of Arella teaching us nen?" All four boys raised their hands. "Then it's settled!" he announced, then blanched at my murderous expression. "H-hey, it was a fair vote."

My eyes narrowed, but I decided against causing Leorio bodily harm. Telling these guys to stop being stubborn was like telling a cat to stop shedding. "Fine," I ground out, and took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. I began a short, introductory explanation. "The four fundamental techniques of nen are ten, zetsu, ren, and hatsu…"

* * *

><p>"…and it is possible to have more than one hatsu ability, but many people just focus on one. Any questions?" I prompted, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.<p>

All four boys were silent, absorbing the basic run-down I'd just delivered. Somewhere in the middle of my lengthy explanation, Kurapica had procured a pen and pad of paper from who-knows-where and was currently frantically jotting down notes.

"So…what type of hatsu ability do you have?" Gon asked curiously.

I blinked and opened my mouth. Then I closed it, realizing I honestly didn't have a clue."You know, I never really thought much about it." Four pairs of eyes stared incredulously. "It never seemed important!" I defended myself.

"You never wanted to know more about what you were actually doing?" Killua questioned skeptically. "No wonder it took you years. You're such an airhead that I'm surprised you managed to learn at all."

I scowled, rapping Killua on the head with my knuckles, ignoring his yelp of protest. "Well, I guess I could start thinking about it now…," I mused. "Out of the six types, enhancement, emission, manipulation, transmutation, conjuration, and specialization, I can definitely rule out conjuration, since I'm not actually summoning anything. So that rules out emission and transmutation as well. I'm not really projecting my nen."

"Is it manipulation?" Leorio guessed. "Since you're sort of manipulating the air?"

"No—can't be," I replied, shaking my head. "Manipulation is the ability to _control_ things, not change them the way I do."

"Then enhancement?" Gon suggested.

Kurapica eyed me. "You don't _seem_ like an enhancement type. Enhancement is more of an offensive technique, right?"

I pursed my lips in thought. "Not necessarily. Remember, self-reparation—healing, I mean—is also considered an enhancement technique. And I _am_ 'enhancing' the air particles. Maybe I am enhancement. Maybe I'm not. I could always just be in specialization, since that seems to encompass pretty much everything else. The only surefire way to know is to do the water test, but we don't exactly have the materials for that right now."

"Man, this stuff is complicated," Leorio grouched, tugging his ear in irritation. "And these are just the basics?"

I looked at him in amusement. "Leorio, I haven't even taught you anything yet. I've just been talking."

His mouth opened in a small circle, and he smacked his fist in one palm. "Oh, that's right," he sighed.

I bit my lower lip. "This…is where it gets tricky," I admitted. "I don't know of a safe way to activate nen, other than years of meditation, which is what I went through. I practically grew up with nen." True, there _was_ a way, but I didn't know if I had enough control to prevent serious injury. I didn't particularly want to _force_ the nen out of anyone, since that could potentially be fatal.

"So it's impossible?" Kurapica asked evenly, and the look in his eyes told me that he knew I was holding something back.

Shifting my weight back and forth between my two feet, I coughed. "No, there is another way but, um… You could die," I said bluntly. "And even if you don't, you'd probably be left feeling extremely fatigued for up to a week. Basically, I'd be forcing my nen into your body, which would force _your_ nen out. But if you aren't able to close your nen nodes afterwards, you'll use up all your nen and die. I'm not experienced enough to help you if that should occur. So I would prefer to not use that method."

"Then the only way is through meditation?" Gon asked curiously.

I nodded. "For now, yes. That's why I said in the beginning that I wouldn't be able to teach you in 30 hours. But after the hunter examinations are over, you'll probably be able to find a master qualified to help you force open your nen points. I'm assuming none of you want to spend years meditating." I rolled my eyes.

"What were you planning on teaching us if you can't even teach us nen?" Killua grumbled, and I couldn't even find it in me to get offended by his sarcastic tone. It was sort of endearing, in a way.

"Well, here, you can be my guinea pig," I said, smiling widely, and sent a blast of concentrated nen straight at Killua. A split second and a loud clatter later, Killua was nowhere to be seen. I blinked. "Um…"

"Wow, you're fast!" Gon exclaimed, staring in awe at the ceiling.

I glanced at the upper corner of the room, realizing that Killua had attempted to evade my attack of aura by hiding behind and above me. I gulped. He probably could've slit my throat in the time it took me to blink, before I even thought to turn around. _Note to self: no sneaking up on Killua_, I decided. _Not an ex-assassin for nothing, this kid_.

Kurapica frowned. "What did you do?"

Leorio nodded. "Yeah, I didn't feel anyth—"

"What was that?" Killua demanded, cutting Leorio off in a panicked voice. "You—it didn't feel like that before!"

I blinked, kind of perplexed at his alarm. I really hadn't scared him that badly, had I? "Well, yeah, it doesn't usually feel like that. I just used a bit of offensive nen. I normally use defensive, so it doesn't usually feel threatening." I turned to the other boys. "I basically projected my nen at Killua only, which is why he was the only one who could feel it. I just used emission hatsu."

"I thought you just said your hatsu isn't emission," Gon pointed out.

I nodded. "Right, it's not. But you don't have to have an affinity with a specific type of hatsu to use it. It just means that it won't be as effective."

"Seemed pretty effective to me," Leorio joked, nudging Killua, who had by now dropped back to the floor and was warily shuffling back to the group.

"Che, so that's what it was," Killua muttered, then his voice dropped even lower as he said something meant only for his own ears. He looked up. "It there a way to counter that?"

"With nen, of course," I replied blandly.

He scowled, seemingly unsatisfied with my response. "…Is that what…what Hisoka does? He feels like that, sometimes." Killua glanced up at my face with a guarded expression.

At the mention of Hisoka, I grimaced. "…Yeah, that's what he's doing. He's not really concentrating on using emission hatsu, though. It's more like his bloodlust just seeps everywhere."

"Hey, hey, I wanna try, too," Gon exclaimed, pouting at being left out of the loop and completely cutting through all of the tension.

Smiling slightly, I reached over with my hand. "Alright, just a little bit, then."

Five hours and several lengthy explanations later, I held up a hand. "Can we stop, now?" I gasped, plopping down on a couch. "It's not easy, using a hatsu that isn't my main type."

The four boys didn't seem like they'd disagree. They all looked just as haggard as I felt. Surely, getting bombarded by nen for hours was a quick way to deplete stamina.

"I guess we should take a break," Leorio suggested. "But hey, I feel like we've gotten the feel for it a little," he said optimistically.

"Yes, I'm sure it will be easier to activate our own nen once the time comes," Kurapica agreed.

Gon whined. "Aw, I wanna learn _now_," he protested. "Can't you just do that dangerous shortcut thing for me?" he pleaded.

"_No_," I said firmly. "I'm not going to be the one to tell your Aunt Mito that I killed you."

"Hah, you're making it sound as if you could," Killua teased. "This kid wouldn't die even if you tried to kill him."

I rolled my eyes. "Look who's talking, Mr. I-Won't-Die-Because-I-Run-Away-At-The-First-Sign-O f-Nen."

Killua scowled. "I don't run anymore! And I didn't run in the first place either! I was relocating to a strategically advantageous location so that I could defend myself better!"

"Sure, sure," I said comfortingly, patting him on the head. Killua swiped at my arm.

"Tch, treating me like I'm a kid," he grumbled.

"But you _are_ a kid," Leorio snickered.

Killua hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I am compared to you, you old geez—"

It wasn't really much of a surprise when Leorio tackled Killua, sending them both sprawling over a couch. "Why you—!" Leorio growled, attempting to put Killua in a headlock. Killua, to his credit, successfully evaded every one of Leorio's advances, even though Leorio seemed to gain great strength when his pride was at stake.

Gon willingly jumped into the fray on his own volition. "I wanna play, too!" he exclaimed, pillow in hand. The impromptu brawl quickly turned into a pillow fight of epic proportions, with feathers flying everywhere.

"You should act your age, Leorio," Kurapica reprimanded, but stopped abruptly when a pillow smashed into his face.

The other boys froze.

"Ah, Kurapica…," Leorio started, blanching when Kurapica hefted the pillow in a menacing fashion.

"I suppose you all must be eager to be put to sleep," Kurapica commented in a deceptively pleasant tone.

Kurapica stalked menacingly towards them as a sudden idea hit me. I waved my pillow from behind Kurapica to get Killua's attention. My eyes flicked over to Kurapica and back, and Killua grinned, nudging Gon. "AMBUSH!" Killua hollered, and we all rushed towards Kurapica, smothering him with pillows.

The impromptu fight lasted until someone elbowed Gon in the stomach.

"Ouch!" Gon exclaimed, mostly in surprise.

Leorio looked up from where he was bashing Killua over the head with a pillow. His eyes flickered to me and his movements slowed. "Er, guys, maybe we shouldn't be doing this with Arella."

"Eh? Why me?" I asked, disappointed. I was holding my own pretty well, after all.

"Well, if that had been you who'd gotten elbowed just now, you'd have a bruise," Leorio reasoned. I blinked. _A bruise? _I wondered. _What's so special about a—oh!_

Kurapica sat up slowly from his position on the floor as his eyes widened. "Oh, I see," he murmured.

"See what?" Killua scowled. "It's just a bruise."

"A bruise is caused by internal bleeding," Leorio explained. "If Arella were to get a bruise, she'd die, since she's a hemophiliac. I don't have anything with me to stop internal bleeding."

"Wait, what? Why would she die?" Killua demanded. "What the heck is a hemophla—hemoph..."

"A bleeder," Gon piped up. "Arella bleeds a lot and then she doesn't stop bleeding."

"Doesn't stop…?"

Leorio began to explain. "Her blood doesn't clot, meaning that if she gets a cut, she won't heal, so she'll continue bleeding until she runs out of blood. Same goes for internal bleeding."

Killua frowned as he looked at me. "So then…before, when we were fighting against the criminals and you volunteered to go first… But that's crazy!"

"That's the reason were hesitant about her competing first," Kurapica admitted. "It could have been very dangerous."

"Not really, since I'm good at escaping," I protested.

"Yeah, you really are!" Gon said encouragingly, patting me on the arm.

"But you lost," Killua pointed out bluntly. I scowled, blushing at the reminder. Killua looked at me speculatively. "Is that also why you blush so easily? Do you have special blood or something?" he asked.

Leorio blinked, answering in my stead. "No, that shouldn't be the case," he replied. "Blushing is caused by expanded blood veins, while hemophilia is a disorder. The two aren't genetically linked." Leorio paused and glanced back at me. "But Arella _does_ blush rather easily."

"Yeah, 'specially when she's around Kurapica," Killua added casually.

My face lit on fire. "Th-that isn't true!" I snapped. I couldn't even look at Kurapica to see his reaction.

"Or maybe it's just when we talk about him," Leorio mused. "Wow, even her ears are red."

Kurapica cleared his throat. "I'm certain she wouldn't color so easily if you two wouldn't go so far out of your way to antagonize her," he reprimanded.

"I wouldn't do it if she didn't react in the same, predictable way every single time," Killua sighed, shrugging as though he simply couldn't help himself. "It's not my fault Arella has some weird fixation on you."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" I insisted, willing the heat to dissipate. "You didn't even know me before you met Kurapica, so for all you know I blush easily around everyone!"

"_Do_ you blush around everyone?" Gon wondered curiously.

"I—that's not the point!" I snapped, starting to feel slightly cornered. I glanced helplessly back at the clock. Where was the bell when you needed it? The red numbers glared mockingly back at me. "How is this possible?" I bemoaned. "Still 20 whole hours left?"

"Well," Kurapica began, "We spent about 10 hours initially fooling around and doing nothing. Then, we spent 8 hours sleeping—or rather, _you_ spent 8 hours sleeping. And then there was a 3-hour wait after that while I was sleeping. We spent about 8 hours on nen… The pillow fight took up another hour… So that's about 30 hours in total," he surmised.

I folded my arms and glared. The four boys glanced innocently back at me.

20 hours. It was going to be a long wait.


End file.
